Burned Into Glory
by QueenOfTheDreamers87
Summary: Nurmengard. Queenie is serving Grindelwald and discovers that her happiness lies in her liberation from the mundane life she's left behind. Exploiting Queenie's eagerness, Grindelwald decides to avail himself of his beautiful new servant. After all, physical contact is just manipulation. But surrounding events complicate what should be simple, and Grindelwald finds himself in deep.
1. Dine With Me

_Nurmengard Castle, Austria_

Queenie stared into the mirror in the quarters she'd been given. The witch who sewed Vinda Rosier's clothes had been enlisted to make Queenie a new wardrobe, and she was certainly skilled. Queenie had never felt so sharply dressed. She had on a black wool dress with silk pleated skirts and white silk cuffs on the sleeves.

"My, don't you look radiant."

Queenie turned to see Vinda coming into her quarters. No one kept doors locked here. It wasn't allowed. To lock one's door meant one was hiding something, and that went against the greater good. Queenie smiled weakly at Vinda Rosier and protested,

"My hair looks a mess."

 _Elle est plus belle qu'elle ne le sait,_ thought Vinda, and Queenie frowned as she wondered what that meant. She cleared her throat and turned back toward the mirror, using her wand to straighten her golden waves into a neat arrangement. Suddenly she thought of Jacob, of him screaming at her that she was crazy, and her eyes burned. She could still feel the cool blue flames licking her flesh as she went through them, as she went away from Jacob forever...

"He wants you to dine with him tonight," Vinda said from behind Queenie, and she whirled around in response.

"He… he does?"

Vinda tipped her chin up in the arrogant way she always did. She nodded. "He sent me to tell you. A private meal, you and him, on his main balcony."

"What?" Queenie's voice was hoarse then. She and Grindelwald only ever talked business. They talked about Credence. She read minds for him. She had never sat alone with him for an extended period of time. The idea of it was terrifying.

She wondered, abruptly, where Tina and Newt were right this moment. Were they together? Were they happy? Did it matter?

Nurmengard Castle was full of windows - like the enormous ones that Credence had blown out a few days earlier - but it was also bedecked with balconies that overlooked the snow-capped Alps. The views were positively stunning. Now Queenie found herself walking in t-strap heels that clacked on the marble floors, striding past archways and stained glass, feeling at last like she had a purpose. She was really working here. She wasn't in some droll Ministry position. She wasn't reading minds on a street corner. She was working for the greater good here. The fact that Tina and Newt and Jacob had been too blind too see was… well, it was a damned shame.

Queenie approached the mighty double doorway that led to Grindelwald's office. She'd come here before, to meet with him about a mind that needed investigation or to sit in on a meeting about his ideals. But now she raised her fist and knocked on the double doors with her nerves alight, her stomach fluttering, knowing she'd been invited - ordered - to dinner and wondering why.

The doors creaked open slowly to admit her. Queenie licked her red-painted lip and clacked into the atrium of Grindelwald's office space. On the walls were banners and emblems of the great wizarding families of Europe, and Queenie walked slowly through the corridor as she cleared her throat carefully.

"Miss Goldstein."

She snapped to attention at the sound of his voice, and then she looked up to see him at the end of the hall, waiting with his hands folded before him. Grindelwald was just as neatly dressed as Queenie was, in an elegant black velvet three-piece suit with a matching cape. His ice-blond hair had been carefully coiffed, and he smirked as he held out a hand.

"I hope you're hungry."

* * *

Gellert Grindelwald had been on the receiving end of several kisses in his life. He'd given more than a few himself. One very long kiss had been with Albus Dumbledore, though at the time it had felt like an obligation. Albus had been madly in love with Gellert, who in turn had wanted a powerful ally and nothing more. Other kisses had come from wizards he'd seduced to gain power or material goods. Vinda Rosier had tasted like red wine. Witches or wizards… the gender of the lips' owner never mattered. All that mattered was that the kisses were means to an end for Grindelwald. Houses, money, loyalty… kisses could buy those things.

Kisses were interesting things in that way.

Queenie Goldstein, it seemed, did not need to be bought. She was already loyal. She was already hard-working. But, like Vinda, she was beautiful, and she was Grindelwald's. And sometimes he just wanted to play with the things that were his. Sometimes he just wanted to toy with the beautiful creatures who clung to him, like drowning victims clutching to flotsam, ripe for a kiss.

So he'd invited Queenie to dinner. Well, he'd ordered her. He'd sent Vinda to notify her, because that would make Vinda jealous, and a hint of jealousy was healthy among followers. Just enough to keep them on their toes and make them work that much harder.

She had very large eyes, Queenie Goldstein. She had full lips. Gellert Grindelwald noticed beauty in men and women alike, and he noticed it in her. He wandlessly pushed out her chair at the wrought iron table that had been set on his balcony, and she gratefully sat and watched as their glasses filled themselves with red wine.

"Or do you prefer white?" asked Grindelwald lightly. Queenie shook her head and insisted,

"I'm fine with whatever you like. Sir."

"Credence - Aurelius - needs to train with me to learn control with a wand before he leaves us," Grindelwald said, sipping his wine. "What did you sense in his mind when you sat down with him earlier today?"

"He is curious about who his parents are," Queenie answered. "Whether Albus Dumbledore is really his brother. He can't quite believe it still. He won't hesitate to do what you ask of him, because you told him who he is, and that's what he wanted. He's loyal to you."

"Loyal." Grindelwald nodded as steamed mussels appeared on his plate and Queenie's. Thanks to magic, they'd been underwater in the Mediterranean this morning and were on the plate in Austria this evening. Grindelwald opened a mussel and elegantly speared it with a small fork. He ate it and then asked, "What about you, Miss Goldstein?"

"What about me, sir?" She tried her best to be lovely eating, he could see. It worked. She brought the mussel into her mouth and chewed discreetly, staring, and Grindelwald raised his pale brows.

"Do you feel any sense of loyalty?"

Queenie looked surprised by the question, but she finally answered, "I walked through fire once for you, and I'd do it again."

He curled up half his mouth. "Good girl."

Queenie sighed as they finished their mussels, and Grindelwald watched her stare out onto the mountains that surrounded them. She seemed profoundly contemplative, so he sipped his wine and then inquired,

"What are you thinking about?"

"What a wonderful question that is. That's what I'm thinking about." She giggled, in her charming little way, and turned her face back toward him. "You're an Occlumens. Your mind isn't screaming at me the way others' do. I feel like I can… I don't know…"

"Relax?" Grindelwald tipped his head, and Queenie seemed thoughtful as she watched their plates change to small steaks with grilled carrots. She gulped and said,

"You've been so generous since Paris. The clothes, the quarters here…"

"You are an integral part of our movement," Grindelwald said smoothly. "Without your unique skills, we would not be functioning as well as we are. We owe you more than rooms and dresses, Queenie, and you will see reward when the world is ours at last."

Her eyes sparkled strangely then, and she said softly,

"Part of what drew me to you was that I thought you were fighting for me to be able to marry my No-Maj boyfriend, Jacob. But he was screaming at me that I was crazy before I went through the blue flames."

"His eyes are not opened," Grindelwald said regretfully. "Your sister's eyes are not opened. Mr Scamander's eyes are not opened. But we will open many eyes, Queenie, and we will do it together, for the greater good."

He was using her given name now, and she seemed entranced by him doing so. She shut her eyes for a moment, and she whispered,

"Peace."

He let the word hang in the air, let it sit there for a moment without explanation, and then he repeated,

"Peace."

"I feel peace around you, I guess," Queenie said rather awkwardly. "Peace in my mind, and… and knowing about that awful war we're going to prevent."

"Peace." Grindelwald nodded then and cut into his steak. He ate a few bites in silence, and Queenie did the same, until he finally told her,

"Jacob's loss is immense. You would have made a fine wife for him."

Queenie's eyes watered visibly. She blinked quickly and set down her fork and knife.

"I just wanted happiness."

"Do you suppose you can find happiness somewhere else?" Grindelwald asked, and Queenie looked around herself. She took in the mountains, the balcony, the castle, the table, the food… the wizard opposite her. A wide smile broke out across her beautiful face, and she lit up like a candle. She nodded.

"You know, I think I can," she said.

Grindelwald chatted with her about mundanity throughout the rest of dinner and dessert - about the weather here in Austria, about the enchanted doorways in Nurmengard, about trying on hats with Vinda Rosier, and then at last dinner was over and he stood. She quickly rose and said,

"Thank you for the meal, sir."

"I like to meet with everyone individually from time to time. I like to know people more personally, especially those who work closely with me," Grindelwald said. Then, deciding there was neither the time nor the space to hesitate, he walked around to where Queenie stood. He cupped Queenie's face in his hands and bent to kiss her forehead. She seemed shocked by his actions and stared up at him, wide-eyed, until he smiled a little at her and whispered,

"Off to bed, pretty little thing."

She scurried off like a mouse, her heels clicking on the stone and then the marble, leaving him standing on the balcony. Grindelwald waited until she was gone, and then he cursed himself.

Her forehead.

Why hadn't he tasted her lips? It was his right; she was his servant and he used kisses to manipulate witches and wizards alike. Queenie Goldstein was eager and loyal and young and pretty and ripe for a good, solid kiss.

So why had he kissed her forehead?

He couldn't quite figure it out, not even hours later as he lay in his magnificent, stout four-poster bed, staring at the beamed ceiling and remembering all the times his lips had gotten him what he'd wanted out of people… including Albus Dumbledore. Today his lips had failed him.

It would not happen again.

 **Author's Note: Well, helloooooooooooo, readers! I realize that most people won't be seeing** _ **Crimes of Grindelwald**_ **for a few days, but I'll already have a few chapters up by then, so that's okay. I also realize this is an odd pairing for this film and I'm probably not going to get a ton of readers (oh, well) but this is the story that wrote itself in my head when I saw the film! I promise I've got lots in store regarding Credence/Aurelius (and Nagini!) as well as Dumbledore, and Newt/Tina/Jacob will also be making appearances. Plus we'll be fleshing out the Vinda Rosier character, which should be fun.**

 **A final note - While we know canonically from JKR that Dumbledore is gay, we also know that Grindelwald never returned those feelings and likely just manipulated Dumbledore. My Grindelwald is being written as bisexual. Take it or leave it! :)**

 **A fair warning that this story absolutely will contain lemons as well as lots of violence.**

 **Thanks so much for reading. Please do leave a review if you get a chance.**


	2. Exciting

He'd kissed her.

On the forehead, but still. Queenie sat in her bathtub the night after it had happened, and she let her toes curl. She squeezed her eyes shut and squealed quietly. The water was starting to go cold. She didn't care.

Was this a betrayal of Jacob, she wondered? No, she thought. It was Jacob who had betrayed her, staring at her, bug-eyed, yelling that she was crazy. He had betrayed them both. He had betrayed what could have been.

Gellert Grindelwald was a strange-looking man, Queenie thought absently. He had one pale eye with a scarlet circumference, and another eye black as pitch. His hair was so blond it was nearly white. His skin was pale and waxy. He was… _off_ , in a way. And yet, there was something so intoxicating about him. Every time Queenie was near him, she felt like she'd had far too much Giggle Water. He smelled like the ocean. He radiated power. There was something comforting about him, and something deeply, pervasively sexual. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but he had an allure that she couldn't ignore.

So to be kissed by him - even on the forehead - was something that Queenie Goldstein was going to relive over and over in her mind even as the bath water went chilly. Finally, she decided to reach for her wand and Vanish all the water from the tub, and as she toweled off, she studied her body, staring down at herself.

What did he think of her, she wondered? She was slim and young and shapely; did he care? Vinda Rosier was even more statuesque. Vinda had a beautiful face. And there were handsome wizards around. Maybe Grindelwald preferred them. There were rumours. Maybe he'd just kissed Queenie's forehead in a fatherly sort of way, the way a guardian would do to bid goodnight to his ward.

Queenie yanked on a short white nightgown, and then she pulled on her heavy velvet dressing-gown, the plum-coloured one that Vinda's ancient seamstress had made for her. It felt luxurious on and weighed a tonne, and Queenie adored wearing it so much that she frequently found herself making excuses to put it on. Tonight she tied the velvet dressing-gown and slid her feet into the matching velvet slippers, and she opened the door of her quarters.

She looked left, then right, then left again, then right again, and once she was very sure that the corridor outside her rooms was empty, she padded with her wand in her hand across the marble floor and down a flight of stairs. She reached an open vestibule that led out to the main balcony, and she pushed open the door.

The night air was crisp and cool, and there was a steady breeze coming from between the mountains. Queenie shut her eyes and breathed in deeply, smelling flowers from the hillsides and the harsh bite of snow. She walked slowly out toward the edge of the balcony, and then she heard a voice from behind her.

"Enjoying the night air?"

Queenie whirled around to see Gellert Grindelwald striding toward her in black flannel pyjamas and an elegant black silk robe. He smirked at her as she ogled him, and then she gulped and gazed up toward the sky.

"I never saw this many stars in New York," she said rather helplessly.

"Ah, but there was much you did not see in New York," replied Grindelwald, and Queenie smiled up at the thousands of twinkling dots in the sky.

"Yeah," she murmured. "I guess that's true."

Grindelwald just stood there then as Queenie stared at the sky, and finally she asked him,

"How did you know I was out here, sir?"

"We all have our own ways of sensing things, don't we, Queenie?" he replied cryptically. She lowered her gaze to him and noted,

"I never thought my Legilimency would be anything but a bother."

His white-blond eyebrows raised. "Your gift is invaluable to our cause. I find you to be indispensable, Queenie."

Her eyes burned like mad all of a sudden. Her heart began to thud in her chest, and when he tipped his head, looking curious, she explained,

"It's just… I ain't never felt important before."

He seemed surprised. "Didn't Jacob make you feel important?"

Queenie scoffed. "Only when I had him under a love spell."

That wasn't true, maybe. Jacob had loved her without magical influence, once upon a time. Before he'd screamed that she was crazy. Before he'd abandoned her. Queenie shook her head and told Grindelwald,

"I've always felt like my sister was the smart and capable one, and I was just the pretty little moron."

Grindelwald looked incredulous. "You can do things almost no one else can do. Your magic is powerful. Cherish it and harness it and use it for the greater good."

"I'm trying, sir," Queenie nodded. Grindelwald approached her in the moonlight, looking more eerie than ever in the glow, and he hovered over her as he murmured gently, almost soothingly,

"You left behind an existence that was very mundane. But you don't ever have to live a mundane life again, Queenie."

She huffed a breath and stared up at him, up at his uneven eyes and his angular face. She parted her lips and just took him in for a long moment before she said,

"All I ever wanted was to live an exciting life."

Grindelwald tucked her thick golden hair behind her ear, making her shiver, and he said seriously,

"There is much about our journey ahead that I can not promise you. But I can promise you one thing, Queenie. You will not be bored. You will live an exciting life… because you have joined me."

"Through flame." Her eyes fluttered shut then, and she wondered if he touched all his followers like this. His hand was lingering where he'd tucked her hair, and she wondered if he caressed everybody this way.

"Queenie," she heard him hum, and when she opened her eyes, he was staring at her with a strange look in his asymmetrical eyes. His throat bobbed visibly, and then he asked rather quickly, "Would you like to be excited now?"

Queenie felt her eyes go round. "Yes. Please."

He surprised her then, by bending and swiftly touching his lips to hers. It was the briefest of kisses, the most hesitant Queenie had ever experienced, and she wanted so much more. She gasped when he pulled away, and she was alarmed when he cleared his throat roughly and nodded.

"Goodnight," he said in a gruff voice, so different from his usual silky tone. Queenie scowled and asked hurriedly,

"Have I offended you?"

"No, Miss Goldstein; you have not offended me. Goodnight." Grindelwald rotated on his heel and quickly walked back toward the doors, throwing one open with a swish of his knobby, thin wand before disappearing inside and leaving Queenie alone on the balcony.

* * *

"Aurelius, your power is immense. Gathering that power and controlling it will be key to defeating Albus Dumbledore," said Grindelwald. "I want you out on the mountaintop practising the spells that I gave you. Have you memorised them?"

"Almost all of them," Credence nodded, looking hesitant. He cricked his neck and demanded, "Why won't you tell me who my parents were?"

Grindelwald tented his fingers. "Kill your brother, Aurelius, and I will reveal everything to you. Everything. Some secrets must stay hidden until certain deeds are done. Memorise the spells."

"Why are incantations necessary if I can just blow things to bits?" Credence demanded, and Grindelwald said patiently,

"Albus Dumbledore can easily Shield himself from your destructive powers. But in a duel where your power is channeled, he will be rightly and truly tested. You did not attend a magical academy. Your learning commences now and happens quickly. I want your brother dead sooner rather than later."

Credence turned his head then, for his phoenix had come soaring into the office and landed on the ground beside Credence's feet. Grindelwald sighed.

"Take that beautiful bird of yours," he said, "and go into the mountains. Work on your spells. Come back to me when your destruction can be routed and conveyed. And then, Aurelius, I will send you to Albus Dumbledore."

"Yes, sir." Credence turned to go, but Grindelwald called after him,

"Stay in the cottage on the peak - the one I built for you to be quiet and alone. You are happy there, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," Credence said again, and Grindelwald flashed him a little smile as he and his phoenix departed the office. Grindelwald wandlessly shut the door behind them, and then he touched his fingers to his forehead.

He hadn't slept a wink the night before. All night, all he could think about was the way he'd made a move to kiss Queenie Goldstein and had wound up pecking her on the lips like some nervous schoolboy.

He'd meant for the kiss to be deep, for it to terrify her. They'd been talking about her droll old life and her thrilling new life. He'd set it up perfectly. Her life was exciting now that she was serving Grindelwald, and he'd meant to kiss her profoundly to seal that message. Instead, he'd barely touched his lips to hers.

And still she'd tasted like peppermint.

Grindelwald's skin prickled at the memory of the brief taste of her he'd gotten. He turned the chair at his desk and stared out his windows at the mountains, remembering the way she'd looked in the moonlight, gazing up at the stars like an innocent child.

Kisses were for control, Grindelwald reminded himself. Touch was for control. Ogling people's looks was for the sake of lording it over them later. But the night before, he'd been rather helplessly breathless, standing there staring at Queenie Goldstein whilst she'd stared at the stars. He'd been rather anxious, talking to her about her future and taunting her with the idea of a kiss. And he'd failed them both by turning that kiss into a fleeting ghost of touch between them.

He wanted more from her. Why couldn't he take it? It should be so easy, he thought, to rip it away from her. He should just go to her quarters and demand that she kiss him until her lips were bruised. He should just intercept her in the corridor and press her against a wall.

Instead he found himself staring out the windows in his office, promising himself that the next time he had her alone, he would take what he wanted properly. She would give it to him properly.

He was going to kiss Queenie Goldstein deeply, Grindelwald promised himself, and soon.

 **Author's Note: I do realize that a) not everyone has seen the movie yet and b) this is not likely to be a popular ship, but if you are reading this, I'd be extremely grateful for feedback! Thanks so very much!**


	3. Natural Order

" _Bleu._ "

" _Bleu._ That one's easy!" Queenie giggled, and Vinda Rosier gave just a hint of a smile. The two witches were sitting in one of Nurmengard's many beautiful parlours, and Queenie had donned one of her new outfits, a smart brown wool ensemble. She sipped at her tea as Vinda told her,

"Many words sound similar in French and English. Like… pink. Ze word for pink is _rose_. Like ze flower."

" _Rose._ " Queenie tried to mimic the guttural sound Vinda had made when saying the _R_ sound in French, but it came out in an odd choking sort of noise, and Vinda put her fingers to her lips and laughed a little. Queenie laughed more uproariously, in the American way, and she complained,

"I am terrible at French!"

"You are trying to learn, and zat is what counts," Vinda argued, and both witches laughed again.

"Such joy I hear in this room!" said a smooth voice from the doorway. Queenie whirled so quickly that she almost spilled her tea, and she flew to her feet when she realised Gellert Grindelwald was entering the room. Vinda Rosier stood and bowed her head, looking painfully elegant as always. Suddenly a spike of wonder went through Queenie. Had Grindelwald ever kissed Vinda on the lips the way he'd done to her?

Probably, she thought. Vinda was incredibly beautiful. She moved like water, fluid as the sea. She was unflinchingly loyal and enviably competent. She was _French._ She was everything Queenie could only dream of being. And she'd been with Grindelwald for some time now. So had he kissed her on the mouth, if he'd done it to Queenie? Yes, she thought. He probably had. And that idea, for some strange reason, made her stomach flop. She stared at Vinda for a moment and then decided that Vinda's elegant fascinator was the most lovely hat Queenie had ever seen. She was overwhelmed, suddenly, with jealousy and insecurity.

"Vinda."

Queenie snapped to attention at the sound of Grindelwald's voice. He was in a heavy ensemble, black waffle weave wool and velvet with leather gloves on, and he sighed.

"Vinda, I want you to go with Abernathy and the others to Vienna. Begin scouting locations to meet here in Austria."

" _Oui, Monsieur._ " Vinda lowered her eyes to the ground and then hurried out of the room, past Grindelwald, leaving Queenie alone with him. Queenie felt awkward for a moment, so she asked,

"Can I help with… scouting out locations?"

"Your place is here," Grindelwald informed her matter-of-factly. "In a few days' time, Aurelius Dumbledore will descend from the mountains, where he is working diligently on honing his magical focus, and I will need to know what's going on in his mind. I will need your… _unique_ … skill, Queenie, and I will need it here. Your place is with me."

That made her shiver a little, and she nodded as she pushed her waves from her face. She set her teacup down on the low table beside her, and Grindelwald suggested,

"Why don't you go bundle up?"

"Bundle up, sir?" Queenie furrowed her brows. Grindelwald shrugged.

"I have sent nearly all my followers in all directions on missions. It snowed around the castle last night. I should like to go for a walk in it."

"A walk in the snow?" Queenie gulped. Grindelwald raised his eyebrows, stepping closer to her.

"Have you some objection to walking with me in the snow, Queenie?"

"N-No. I would… I would love to… walk in the snow." Queenie grinned broadly, and his face twitched a little at the sight of her smile.

Twenty minutes later, Queenie had donned furry boots, a fur-lined black wool coat, black mittens, and a warm woolen hat over her golden hair. She came walking out of her quarters to see Grindelwald waiting for her, and he smirked a little. He liked to look at her, she thought. He thought she was pretty. She didn't need into his mind to tell that much. He liked her smile. So she smiled at him.

They went out onto the main balcony and down the stone stairs from there, and Grindelwald led the way toward the forest that knotted on the rocky mountainside near the castle. There was a part that was relatively flat, winding its way between towering evergreens, and it was into this tangle of wood and snow that Grindelwald brought himself and Queenie.

"May I ask you something, please?" Queenie dared to say as they trudged. She stared down at the sparkly bright white powder around her boots, and Grindelwald's silvery voice replied,

"You may ask me anything."

Queenie's breath caught at that, and she smiled a little to herself. But then she frowned. How could Tina and Jacob and Newt have been so blind? Why couldn't they see that this was the way? She sighed.

"That war that you saw with your prophesying skull," Queenie said. "Will you tell me more about it?"

"I know only what the visions showed me," Grindelwald told her. She looked up to see him looking terribly troubled as he said, "Muggles… No-Majs… around five hundred years ago, they considered it the height of warfare to have something called a Longbow in battle. A particular type of bow and arrow that allowed archers to fire from farther away. It caused wars to be won. But what I saw in that war was far more than flying arrows, Queenie. They will kill millions, and it is because they have spent centuries perfecting the _art_ of killing. Always, always, they are striving for better technology to kill."

Queenie felt ill all of a sudden. She stopped walking and stared up at Grindelwald. He shook his head.

"We can not live in secrecy forever, but if they know what we can do, they will turn their weapons on us. They will destroy us. They will destroy themselves, march themselves to death camps. I have seen it. It is the future if we do not take our rightful place."

"Our rightful place… on top?" Queenie was uneasy, but Grindelwald assured her,

"They are not capable of protecting themselves from their own destructive tendencies. And if they go unchecked, it will be our doom. There is a natural order of things, you see, Queenie. I do not call for the eradication of No-Majs. I call for their protection. From themselves."

"I understand." Queenie nodded. That made so much sense. Why couldn't Tina and Jacob and Newt see how much sense that made? Jacob, who had fought in the trenches and had seen the murderous tendencies of No-Majs with his own eyes? Why couldn't he see now?

"You are thinking of those who left you behind," Grindelwald said softly, and Queenie's eyes burned. She whispered,

"I just want peace and happiness."

"That is what we fight for," Grindelwald growled quietly. "For the greater good. And they will see someday, Queenie. We will make them all see. All eyes will be opened. You understand? All eyes will see. All ears will hear. And that natural order we discussed will be put into place until all are safe, and all are happy."

Queenie found herself breathless then, and her eyes welled with tears. One boiled over her eye and trailed down her cheek, and Grindelwald wiped it away with a gentle swipe of his leather-clad thumb. He whispered down to her,

"Will you be with me to see this new world, Queenie Goldstein?"

"Through fire again and again," she murmured back, and suddenly the air seemed to be crackling around them, as if his magic had discharged a bit. Grindelwald's pale eye flashed rather wildly, and his lips parted a little. He reached up with his leather-gloved hand and held Queenie's cheek, and she leaned against his palm.

This felt good, standing here in the snow with him, in the cold, still quiet. Only the sound of the distant wind in the mountains sounded, and the rustling of the evergreen branches, and as Queenie stared up at Grindelwald, there was the sensation that they were profoundly alone. Vinda and many of the others had gone to Vienna. Credence - Aurelius - was in a cottage on a mountain, contentedly alone, refining his spellwork. Right now, Queenie and Grindelwald were standing in the shadows of the pine trees, surrounded by a blanket of silent white chill, and it felt very alone.

And he was holding her face, and he was staring down at her, and suddenly she wanted nothing more in the entire world than for him to kiss her like he'd done on the balcony. She didn't care if he'd done it with Vinda or a wizard or anybody else. She couldn't be jealous right now. He spoke more sense than anyone in the world had ever spoken, she thought, and he was powerful, and he smelled like the ocean, and she _wanted_ him.

"Please," she said softly, her eyes going wide as she gazed up at him. She flicked her gaze from his pale eye to his dark one, and then she whispered the word. "Please."

He responded by descending toward her, and this time when his mouth met hers, he delved into a deep, searching, satisfying kiss.

* * *

 _Pull back, you fool!_

Grindelwald tried to force himself off of Queenie, to rip himself away from her mouth. He'd been kissing her for far too long now, standing out here in the snow.

He'd brought her out here to kiss her, of course, but this was turning into something ridiculous. What he'd intended on doing was talking politics with her - bringing her ever closer to the heart of his philosophy, ever more tightly under his wing. And he'd done that. He'd intended on holding her face and thrusting his tongue between her lips, searching her mouth a bit, making her moan a little, leaving her wanting more. That was how kisses worked, wasn't it? That was how Gellert Grindelwald's kisses worked, anyway. When he'd kissed Vinda, he'd left her head spinning, had left her panting, but he'd never touched her again. When he'd kissed Albus Dumbledore, the poor boy had been tormented the rest of the summer. Grindelwald's kisses were taunts. There was never a conclusion to them. He got his satisfaction from the way the other party got just a taste of him and wound up blinking slowly in confused want.

But he wasn't following his own modus operandi with Queenie Goldstein. Things hadn't gone right with her from the first, he thought. He'd kissed her forehead in an act of unexpected cowardice, and then he'd pecked her lips out of… had it been fear? Now he had his arms wrapped around her - like an embrace! - in the snowy forest, and he couldn't make himself stop.

His arms had moved of their own accord. His left fingers had snared into her woolen hat, into her hair, and he'd crushed her mouth with his. His right arm had laced around to the small of her back and had pulled her flush against him. She was young. She was beautiful. She tasted like peppermint. He couldn't make himself stop.

She moaned into his mouth, and suddenly Grindelwald's breath hitched in his throat and he started to feel arousal beyond anything a kiss had ever brought on. His fingers cinched on Queenie's hair and face, and he pulled her more tightly against him than ever, and finally - _finally -_ he managed to convince himself that they both needed full breaths.

She staggered backward in the snow, so dizzy that he reached out to catch her with wandless magic. He steadied her with a flick of his hand, and she mumbled her thanks as she dragged a knit black mitten over her swollen, shining lips.

"I ain't never been kissed like _that_ before," Queenie whispered, and Grindelwald just stood there like an idiot with his heart pounding a drumbeat inside his chest. He gulped and noted to Queenie,

"It's cold out here. I have planning to do for Vienna."

"Of course." She twined her mittened hands together and looked anxious. Beautiful, but anxious. "Thanks for the… walk. And the talk. I really like hearing about your vision for our future, and I want to be a part of everything."

"You will be." Grindelwald began walking in the direction of the castle, and he said over his shoulder, "Don't stay out here and freeze, Queenie."

 **Author's Note: Whew. So they finally got in a good kiss. Now what happens when Credence/Aurelius comes back from training, and what's going to happen in Vienna? And what more will happen between these two? I HAVE PLANS. Mwah hahaha. PLEASE REVIEW if you get a quick moment. FEEDBACK IS GOLD. Thanks!**


	4. Blizzard

"Queenie."

She looked up from the book she was reading, one of the only English-language novels she had been able to find in the castle's library, and saw Grindelwald walking into the parlour where Queenie had settled herself. He seemed abjectly bothered by something, and as she flew to her feet, he said in a clip,

"Put on something warm."

"Is something wrong, sir?" Queenie asked anxiously, shutting her book. Grindelwald seemed irritated with her then, but his voice was as smooth as ever as he told her,

"Do as I tell you. Go to your rooms and put something warm on. Now, if you please."

"Yes, sir." Queenie tucked her book tightly to her chest and walked briskly out of the parlour, through the castle's corridors, and up a flight of stairs until she reached her quarters. Once inside, she put the book on a built-in sturdy wooden shelf and began to dress in her elegant fur-lined black winter ensemble. She made her way back out into the corridor to see Grindelwald there in his velvet and wool heavy gear, and as she shut her door, he informed her,

"Aurelius Dumbledore is missing."

"Missing?" Queenie shook her head. "I thought he working on spells at the cottage you built for him, sir."

"I had an odd feeling," Grindelwald said in a low voice, "so I Apparated up to the cottage. It is dark and quiet and very empty. Credence - Aurelius - is not there."

Queenie's mouth dropped open. If the boy had vanished from the cottage, where had he gone? She stood in silence as Grindelwald continued,

"My intent is to spend a night or two in the cottage waiting for him to come back. I suspect he has gone into Obscurial form and will return. But when he does, I need to know what is in his mind. I need to know for certain where his loyalties lie. Do you understand?"

Queenie nodded. Grindelwald was taking her to the cottage to wait for the boy so that she could feel out his intentions with Legilimency when - if - he returned. She cleared her throat and asked carefully,

"What if he doesn't come back after two nights, sir?"

"Then we will go looking for him." Grindelwald raised his pale eyebrows. "Let us hope for all our sakes that that is not what comes to pass."

Queenie frowned. "If I'm going to be spending the night in a cottage, sir, should I pack some pyjamas?"

"Pyjamas." Grindelwald touched his forehead and actually smiled a little. "You are rather endearing; do you know?"

Queenie's cheeks went hot. Now she felt like a fool, suggesting pyjamas. But it only made sense, didn't it, if they were spending the night up there? She cleared her throat roughly.

"I'll sleep in this, of course, sir."

"No. You must have pyjamas." He pushed past her into her rooms, shocking her with the brazen way he moved right into her quarters. Suddenly his thin, knobby wand was waving with grandiose motions, and Queenie was bug-eyed as her wardrobe flew open and bits of clothing assembled themselves into one of her small suitcases. It clicked shut after awhile, and Grindelwald Summoned it, handed it to Queenie, and smirked.

"Let's go."

* * *

The cabin was an Alpine chalet in miniature perched high on a rocky peak that was blustery and lonesome. When they came to from the Apparition, Queenie was nearly blown over by the powerful winds. She gasped, trying to fill her lungs with the frigid air, and wondered how and why Aurelius Dumbledore would have come here to study alone.

She trudged in the snow toward the cottage, watching Grindelwald light all the exterior lanterns with his wand. The sun was quickly going down, and Queenie knew she wouldn't be coming back outside. There was a precipitous drop-off not far from the cottage, and the fall would certainly be enough to kill. She hurried toward the cottage just as quickly as her boots and the snow would let her do.

The inside of the cottage was dark and cold, but Grindelwald made quick work of that. Queenie shut the door as Grindelwald tucked his wand away and began flicking his hands about. Candles in sconces illuminated themselves, an _Incendio_ charm set a fire to blazing in the stone fireplace, and a Hot Air Charm instantly warmed the place up. Queenie scoffed rather loudly.

"What's the matter?" Grindelwald asked a bit distractedly, flourishing his fingers with an _Engorgio_ spell to make their fire bigger. Queenie marveled,

"Your wandless magic. It's… it's very impressive, sir."

He turned up half his mouth and sank onto the brown leather sofa before the fireplace as he said simply,

"Practise."

Queenie sighed. She stripped off her heavy black cloak and hung it on the rack near the door where Grindelwald had already Banished his velvet cape. She moved toward the sofa, unsure of whether or not she was allowed to sit by him, and as she awkwardly stood before the fire, she relayed,

"I'm real good with nonverbal magic. I even won this award at Ilvermorny for it. Got a trophy for my House, Pukwudgie, and everything, because I won this contest for casting nonverbal Charms. Anyway. I think it's because I'm a Legilimens, and so I'm real good at doing stuff in my head, you know? But I could never work without a wand the way you do. Sir."

She'd rambled, she knew, and he was just staring up at her. She felt her cheeks go very hot, and suddenly she wanted to run outside and hurl herself into the snow. But then Grindelwald asked rather gently,

"Why don't you sit?"

"May I?" She knitted her fingers together before her, and he smiled again, that amused smile he got when she did something silly. Queenie grinned and slowly moved to sit beside him, near but not too close. For a while, there was a long quiet, until she wondered aloud,

"What if he's gone to England already? To kill Albus Dumbledore without your permission?"

"I would be very disappointed," Grindelwald said simply. "I need that boy to be… in line. You understand?"

"You need him loyal," Queenie nodded. "He's too dangerous to be rogue, on his own, and he's too valuable not to have on your side."

"Precisely," whispered Grindelwald. There was a sudden howl and a rattle at the windows, and Queenie frowned. The howling began to intensify, and the windows and then the whole cottage vibrated. Grindelwald was calm as he murmured, "He's not likely to come back in a blizzard."

"Should we go back to the castle, sir?" Queenie asked, but Grindelwald shook his head and looked around the cosy interior of the cottage.

"If he is loyal to me, he'll come back here to finish his training. We'll wait out this storm, and we'll give him a day, and if he's still vanished after that time, the gloves are off. Are you hungry?"

"Oh. I can cook, if you'd like." Queenie rose quickly and moved toward the quaint little kitchen area of the cottage. She opened cupboards to find burlap sacks of lentils, Preserved meats, and other ingredients. She turned over her shoulder and asked Grindelwald, "What would you like, sir?"

He cocked up an eyebrow. "Surprise me."

She whipped up a quick lamb stew with the meat, onion, carrots, herbs, and other necessities that she found in the cottage. She Scoured up her pot as she ladled stew into two crockery bowls, and as she Levitated the bowls back to the sofa, she said in a cheerful voice to Grindelwald,

"The secret ingredient to a good lamb stew is white wine. Fortunately, there was a bottle here. I barely used any of it, so if you'd like a glass, I'd be happy to pour you some."

"Perhaps later." Grindelwald plucked his floating bowl of stew out of the air and spooned some into his mouth, and his face shifted strangely. Queenie clutched her bowl anxiously and waited for the verdict. Grindelwald took another bite of stew, then another, and finally he murmured,

"Your gifts are many."

That made Queenie grin so hard that her face hurt, and she asked in a little squeak,

"You like it?"

"Mmmm." He spooned stew into his mouth without speaking until his bowl was empty. Queenie was so pleased by that that she hurried to take his empty bowl away, Scour and Banish it, and offer to bake him something for dessert. But he said quietly,

"I am quite satisfied. Thank you."

Queenie finished her own stew and cleaned up after herself, and then she was buzzing with so much happiness that she rather impulsively asked,

"Seeing as how it's storming like crazy out there and we already ate dinner, would you mind if I put something cosy on? You see, Vinda's seamstress does beautiful work, but all these new outfits are kinda uncomfortable after a long day."

"By all means. Get comfortable." Grindelwald folded his hands on his lap and stared at the fire. Queenie took her suitcase into the small area with its quilted bed, and then she realised the predicament they were going to face. She would sleep on the floor, of course, being the servant of the great and powerful Gellert Grindelwald, but she wasn't looking forward to it.

His frenetic packing had led to a rather skimpy black nightgown making its way into her suitcase, and Queenie's cheeks went warm. She remembered the first day she'd ever met Jacob, how she'd been in a slip and Tina had had to tell her to cover up. Queenie had never exactly been one for modesty. Bodies were bodies, and there was nothing to be ashamed of about them, she believed. But she was in a cottage with a man whom she admired _very_ much, a man whose hands had been all over her, whose tongue had tangled with hers as she'd moaned against him. And so, as she pulled on the black nightgown and the plum-coloured dressing-gown he'd been good enough to pack, she wondered if she ought to have left her uncomfortable woolen dress on. Queenie steeled herself, adjusted her neckline to hide more skin, and padded barefoot back to the sofa.

"So, yeah. Vinda's seamstress… she does real good work," Queenie said, desperate to fill the quiet with conversation. Grindelwald just stared into the fire and nodded.

"I am glad to hear it."

Queenie chewed her lip a little and pondered, "She's French. I think she's better at making clothes because she's French. Vinda's better at a lot of things because she's French. Vinda's just… better. At a lot of things."

Grindelwald's brows furrowed as he stared into the flames.

"Example?"

Queenie shrugged. "I dunno, sir; she just does her job so well, and -"

"You do your job well," he countered, and Queenie's heart picked up a little.

"She's very elegant," she noted, and Grindelwald rolled his asymmetrical eyes as he turned to smirk at Queenie.

"You two will work together and be friends," he commanded. "Each of you has been given unique skills, gifts, and attributes. Where she is precise, you are amusing. Where she is administrative, you perform Legilimency. Why compete with your compatriots, Queenie?"

"You're right, sir." Queenie followed his eyes then, for she'd shifted in a way that had caused her dressing gown to fall open, and her nightgown was very low-cut. The curve of her small breast was revealed to him, she realised. The swell of her breast and the hint, the temptation, of something beyond. She gasped a little and adjusted herself, but when she looked up, Grindelwald was staring into the fire again.

* * *

He _wanted_ her.

He _craved_ her.

And she was so close that he could reach out and touch her, make her moan, make her scream, and no one would hear or know. Grindelwald studied the flames before him, intently gazing at each flicker, breathing rather heavily through his nose, thinking it had been a mistake to bring her here. What had he thought would happen?

This.

He thought they'd wind up on this sofa together. He'd wanted this. Credence's disappearance had been a marvelous excuse to wind up in this exact situation.

When Albus had lusted and pined after a young Gellert, he'd felt only mild interest in response. When Vinda had come alive under his kiss, he'd been soft in his trousers. The sensation of wanting, of craving, was so rare that it felt like a foreign entity consuming Grindelwald's core. He was on fire inside, just like the logs he was watching burn.

She was gifted. She was a Legilimens and was particularly adept with nonverbal magic. She was bright and cheerful, attributes that Grindelwald rarely encountered and even more rarely valued. She was stunning to look at. And she was, as it turned out, a marvelous cook. She was pleasant to have about. He _liked_ her. He liked being near her. He had very much liked having his hand tangled in her hair and his mouth against hers in the snowy forest.

Peppermint. She had tasted like peppermint.

"Queenie."

He finally looked away from the fire, turning his face, and she was staring at him with her big doe eyes, her full lips parted, and she whispered,

"Yes, sir?"

He studied her for a moment - her lovely hair and face, feeling a pull in his chest - and he cleared his throat.

"Come here."

"Yes, sir."

She moved toward him on the sofa then, and Grindelwald encouraged her to face him, to put a leg on either side of him. She seemed hesitant to straddle him, as though it were taking things too far, but Grindelwald confidently guided her body until she settled down onto his lap. Her breath shook like mad as she reached carefully for the side of his head, and suddenly he didn't need to be a Legilimens to know what she was thinking. He could see the uncertainty, the question in her eyes. _Had he done this with Vinda and countless others?_

He didn't answer the unspoken question. She had done nothing to earn reassurance or a rehashing of his personal past. Instead he just reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear, and he informed her,

"I find myself in want of you."

"Okay." Queenie didn't seem certain about what to say to that. She squirmed a little, and Grindelwald hissed, for she'd moved her knickers squarely atop his growing erection. She froze and studied his eyes. _How much want?_ she was wondering. He was wondering the same thing. Did he just kiss her again now the way he'd done in the forest? That was, for the most part, as far as he took things with people. Albus had wanted to go so much farther, but young Gellert had been spooked by the idea of sex and all the emotional trappings that inevitable came afterward. With Vinda, the desire hadn't been there. He'd had a few people now and then, tastes of flesh, but this felt different.

She'd made him lamb stew that was still warm in his belly.

No sex, then. It was too clingy, that idea of entering her body and putting his own fluids inside of her. But he wanted more than a kiss. He needed more than a kiss.

"Do that again," he finally muttered, and Queenie seemed to get the idea. She ground her hips down and forward a few times, and Grindelwald sucked in air though clenched teeth. Oh, that felt good. That felt marvelous, the way she was rubbing against his tip every time she pushed her hips. He tipped his head back and let his mouth fall open, and he whispered,

"Don't stop."

"Oh, I couldn't if I wanted to," she said, sounding drunk, and he realised she liked it, too. He forced his head up, made himself look at her, and she'd lolled to the side a little and looked intoxicated. She quickened up her hips a bit, and her fingernails scratched at the short-cropped blond hair on the side of his head. That felt so good he couldn't breathe, and he wrenched his eyes shut.

"Again," he choked out. She started to massage his scalp with her nails, which were just sharp enough to stimulate him, and she rolled her hips against him. Suddenly Grindelwald couldn't take all the heavy velvet covering her. He wrenched at the tie round her waist and shoved at the dressing gown, which Queenie shucked away, and he groaned softly at the sight of her atop him in nothing but a short silk nightgown.

"Oh." Queenie was shaking now, her thighs trembling fiercely on either side of Grindelwald's hips. She reached rather desperately for his shoulder and murmured, "I'm gonna… you know…"

"Kiss me." Grindelwald said it before he could help himself, and Queenie almost fell onto his mouth. He held her face as she moaned helplessly onto his lips, her tongue clumsy as she came. She was coming _right now_ , he realised, and that thought made him so hard it hurt. Her grinding turned into erratic jerks as she panted through her climax and then recovered, and suddenly she'd pulled her face off of his and had burrowed herself into the crook of his neck, gasping for air.

It was all too much. Grindelwald had never in his entire existence felt anything this profoundly arousing. He stared at the window, shaking in the blizzard, as everything burst inside of him. On instinct, he wrapped his arms around Queenie and held her onto him, one arm round her waist and the other round her shoulders, and he felt her breath puffing hot onto his neck as he detonated. His come burst into his trousers in messy spurts, and his ears rang and he saw spots. Everything was hot and blindingly white for a split second, and then he was catching his breath.

The next few minutes were a blur. She climbed off of him, shaking like a leaf and mumbling that she hoped he wasn't angry with her. She pulled on her dressing-gown. Grindelwald cleaned up the mess in his trousers with wandless Siphoning and Scouring spells. He sent Queenie to bed - to the only bed - and said he'd sleep on the sofa. But he didn't sleep. He just stared at the fire.

Sometime around two in the morning, the howling blizzard let up. Grindelwald rose off the sofa and paced through the cottage to stretch his legs. He stared at Queenie where she lay asleep in the bed, and he gulped. He should have regrets, he thought. He should have Obliviated her. He should have punished her. He shouldn't have wanted her; he shouldn't have enjoyed it so much. Because, after all, physical contact with other humans was all about control. Or, at least, it was meant to be about control. Physical contact with other humans was punitive or manipulative.

But they'd both come, and they'd kissed, and he'd wrapped her up in his arms, and he'd _liked_ it.

Grindelwald sighed and shut his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and hoping Credence would come back early in the morning.

 **Author's Note: I realize I'm updating at breakneck speed (if you don't know me yet - Hi, I have Clinical Hypergraphia!) so I'm even more grateful for those who take the time to leave a quick review on chapters as they go up. Thank you so much for reading. :)**


	5. Firewhisky

At some point, Grindelwald must have drifted off to sleep. Otherwise, he couldn't have awakened to the smell of back bacon sizzling. He blinked his eyes open to see that he was leaning against the edge of the sofa, and when he sat up straighter and wandlessly Scoured his body clean, he turned to see Queenie Goldstein in the tiny kitchen. She was waving her wand about carefully, frying up eggs and searing bacon, and she looked very pretty standing there in her dark purple velvet dressing gown. She didn't notice that he'd awakened, and she was humming softly as she cooked with her wand. Grindelwald cleared his throat rather roughly, and Queenie whirled around, flashing him a winning grin.

"Good morning," she said politely. "I just thought I'd whip up a little something to eat. You like eggs and bacon, sir?"

"I do." Grindelwald rose slowly from the sofa and realised she'd watched him sleep. His cheeks went a little warm at that thought, at the idea of her seeing him slumped and vulnerable. He needed to reestablish dominance. Now. He strode slowly toward the kitchen and said in a lazy voice, "You like to cook for people. It makes you feel very useful. When people enjoy your food, you feel that you've done something of worth."

Queenie's mouth fell open a little, and she looked slightly ashamed. She turned back to her pans of food and quickly stopped the cooking before they could burn. Her porcelain cheeks went pink, and she murmured,

"I've just always liked cooking. Makes me feel good, feeding people."

Grindelwald didn't thank her for the eggs and bacon. He ate them in silence at the small table, and he let her Scour and Banish his plates and cutlery without a word. He spent the rest of the morning reading an old tome on goblin rebellions that had been on the mantle, and Queenie sat on the edge of the bed twiddling her thumbs. Once Grindelwald felt that he'd firmly re-established just who was in charge, he asked,

"Would you like a book? There are several here above the fireplace."

"Are they in English?" asked Queenie carefully, and she came walking over. Grindelwald hadn't thought of that. The book he was reading was in German. He watched Queenie drag her fingers over the spines of the limited selection of books, and he heard the disappointment in her voice as she said, "They're all French or German. I'm too dumb to understand."

"Queenie," scoffed Grindelwald, "you understand far more than most people."

He pulled out the Elder Wand and Summoned a French romance novel. He caught it with his left hand and aimed his wand at it as he murmured carefully,

" _Angloverto._ "

He opened the book and smirked, then shut it and held it up to Queenie. She frowned in confusion, approaching and taking the book from him. She opened it, and her eyes bugged out a little. She grinned happily then and read in English,

" _Jeanette and Marien: A Tale of Woe of Sorrow in Marseilles._ You've translated it."

Grindelwald watched her happily take the book back over to the bed, where she sat again and began reading. For some reason, the act of having made her happy was a stirring thing to experience. It set his heart to racing, seeing that grin, watching her sit and read so contently.

Why did he care, he wondered, whether a servant of his was happy? He ought not be concerned at all with her level of joy at any given moment in time. That was inconsequential; all that mattered was her efficiency, her loyalty, and her effectiveness.

And yet.

Halfway through the afternoon, Grindelwald finished his book and rose, standing near a window and staring out at the rich blanket of snow on the rocky mountain peak. He sighed with realisation and stuck his hands into the pockets of his black wool trousers as he said aloud,

"He isn't coming back to this cottage. He's gone."

Grindelwald heard squeaking from the bed behind him as Queenie stood, and then he heard her heels on the wooden floor - she'd changed into a neat black wool dress a few hours earlier. She came to stand beside him, and she asked carefully,

"Where do you think he's gone?"

"To England, probably," Grindelwald supposed. "He thinks he is ready to kill Albus Dumbledore. He doesn't want to do it as my servant; he's tired of serving people. He ran away to do my bidding without my permission. That is what I believe."

Queenie huffed a breath. "And will you send people to England to chase after him? To hunt him down? Sir?"

Grindelwald turned his face to her. " _I_ will go to England to get the boy. And you will come with me."

"Me?" Queenie looked shocked, but Grindelwald explained,

"The last thing I need right now is to invade England with a ragtag army in search of an Obscurial gone rogue. This needs to be done properly. Carefully. Just me and my Legilimens, working quietly to find the boy and convince him to…"

"To fall in line?" Queenie prompted, and Grindelwald nodded. Queenie looked a little dizzy as she breathed,

"Back to England, then. When do we leave? Now?"

"No," Grindelwald said, shaking his head. "I need time to send messages to Vienna to let Vinda and the others know I'm leaving. We'll have to pack Expanded bags. And I'd like to go by hopalong Apparition. From here to Paris, from Paris to Calais, from Calais to England. We'll need to be prepared to be in hiding the entire time we're there - powerful Transfiguration and Disillusionment Charms."

Queenie looked around the little cottage and said half-jokingly,

"And here I was about to suggest breaking out the bottle of firewhisky I found in the cupboard this morning."

Grindelwald shook his head and smirked. He stared out the window again, out and down toward the castle he'd built, and he pulled his hand out of his trouser pocket. He reached for Queenie's fingers, sliding his into hers, and he heard her breath catch. He held her hand and wandlessly filled and Summoned her suitcase, holding it in his right hand as he flicked his eyes to Queenie. Then, without another word, he Disapparated back to Nurmengard, taking her with him and bypassing his many carefully constructed wards.

* * *

It was the clearest night Grindelwald could remember in a great long while. He stared up at the sky and clutched his bottle of firewhisky, wondering if anyone had ever actually attempted to truly count the stars. Could it be done? Suddenly he felt very small, thinking about stars, and he did not care for the sensation. He walked back toward his office, swigging from his bottle of firewhisky again, and his head spun.

He hadn't been drunk in years. He'd been too busy gaining power to weaken himself with liquor. But Queenie had put the idea into his mind earlier about it, the idea of getting drunk together, and after they'd come back to the castle for logistics, he'd taken a bottle of fine firewhisky from the castle's stores and opened it for himself. He was deep into the bottle now, and he was feeling it. He slid into his stout leather office chair and dragged his fingers over his now-messy ice-blond hair. He wanted her here, he thought. He wanted to kiss her.

How ridiculous that was. How foolish she made him, with or without liquor. She made him into an idiot, kissing her forehead, holding her in the forest, letting her writhe above him in a firelit cottage.

He wanted her _now_.

"Queenie!"

He shouted her name in a sharp bark, as though she would somehow hear him through the layers of doorways and corridors between them. She didn't answer, of course; she was probably off trying on fifteen shades of lipstick or something. Grindelwald swigged more firewhisky, and it seared hot and angry down his throat. He blinked slowly and heaved himself up to stand from his desk, staggering out of his office and throwing open the double doors to the corridor with wandless magic.

"Queenie!" he shouted again, taking another drink. _Enough_ , he thought. If he drank anymore, he was liable to vomit or pass out. He Vanished the frighteningly empty bottle of firewhisky by dropping it and waving his hand roughly before the glass hit the marble floor. Even profoundly drunk, his magic was powerful. "Queenie!"

Suddenly he heard it - beautiful orchestral music, a Magical opera called Yvette the Beloved of All. It was being played on an Amplified phonograph in one of the parlours. Grindelwald scowled and walked with uneven steps toward the sound of the music. He gulped, his heard whirling and his ears ringing. He burst into the parlour to find Queenie standing, staring out the window at the night sky, swaying her hips a little to the music.

"Queenie."

She turned quickly; she must not have heard him shouting over the sound of the music. Grindelwald walked further into the room and caught his foot on the corner of a plush velvet divan, tripping a little. He grabbed the back of the divan and glared at Queenie, who aimed her wand at the phonograph and turned down the volume. She tucked her wand away and noted softly,

"You're drunk, sir."

"Mmm-hmm." Grindelwald rose and shrugged. "Didn't you want to drink firewhisky in the cottage?"

"I was just joking around," Queenie said, sounding afraid. She walked toward him and straightened the robes that had fallen off one of his shoulders. He was a mess, he realised. He gulped and murmured down to her, very much on instinct and impulse,

"You taste like peppermint."

Queenie's eyes went wide, and she whispered, "I use Peppermint Potion in the mornings and evenings."

Grindelwald nodded vigorously and hovered over her, listening as the music on the recording segued into a beautiful two-step. He knew this opera; the corps de ballet came out and danced during this bit.

Danced…

He reached with his left hand and took Queenie's right one, and she seemed confused until he put his right hand on her narrow waist. She silently slid her left arm up onto his shoulder, and Grindelwald started to sway.

It was messy. He was drunk. He was so drunk, but she didn't seem to mind. She just stared at him like he was the moon and stars, like he was a painted sunset, like he was perfection. She gazed up at his bleary, oddball eyes, and he knew he reeked of firewhisky as he muttered down to her,

"We leave tomorrow for Paris, and then for Calais. I'll have to take Hang-Away Potion, I'm sure. My head will be pounding in the morning."

Queenie smiled warmly up at him and asked as they moved in their clumsy dance, "Why'd you drink so much, sir?"

"I don't really know," he admitted, and he didn't know. He didn't have a good answer for her. Was it because he needed his Obscurial back, lest his plans for Dumbledore's demise be foiled? Was it because he just hadn't been solidly drunk in so long that it simply felt overdue? Or was it her? He didn't know. He blinked slowly, unable to keep himself from stumbling a little, and then the beautiful ballet piece ended and the record on the phonograph spun in scratchy silence. Queenie's feet stopped moving, but she kept her left hand on Grindelwald's shoulder and held fast to his other hand. She stared up at him, there in an awkward dancing stance with no music to guide them, and she whispered,

"You burned me alive."

Grindelwald swallowed hard. "I designed those flames to only admit the loyal. You came through them because you were true to -"

"No." She dared to interrupt him, and for some bizarre reason, he couldn't bring himself to mind. She shook her head and licked her lip. "I was nobody. Nothing. And then I came through that blue flame, and it's like you created me from nothing. You… burned me into living. And I need you to know that I…"

She was still holding onto him, holding his hand, holding his shoulder, and the record was spinning impatiently as the needle scratched it. Grindelwald felt more drunk than ever as he steadied himself on his feet and asked in the smoothest voice he could manage,

"What do you need me to know, Queenie?"

Her lovely wide eyes watered, and she said softly, "I'd burn a thousand times over for you. That's all."

Suddenly Grindelwald snapped. Everything inside of him, every shred of self-control and collected, suave styling, dissolved. He released Queenie's hand and gripped her waist, pushing her toward the wall. She squealed softly in surprise, especially when her back smacked the wall and Grindelwald's fingers trailed up her ribcage. He bent down and kissed her hard, crushing her mouth with his and knowing he was disastrously clumsy right now. He licked her bottom lip, nibbled on it, pushed his tongue into her mouth, and dragged it against hers. She moaned softly, her hands flying to the front of his black velvet waistcoat. She yanked him closer, surprising him with her gall, and he realised she wanted him badly.

This could only spell doom, he thought. The two of them in mutual longing. No good could come of this. But her hair was like spun silk beneath his searching fingers, and her voice vibrated against his mouth, and she tasted like peppermint. So he couldn't stop.

 _No, I never kissed Vinda like this,_ he had a sudden urge to reassure her. Why did he care what she knew about Vinda? He ought to care only about her performance for him, but now he had her pinned against the wall whilst the opera record just spun and spun in a stunned sort of silence. Her fingers curled around the material of his waistcoat, holding him near, and he squeezed at her waist as he threaded his hand into her golden waves. He kissed her again, wondering just how badly he tasted of firewhisky.

"I don't mind the taste at all," she murmured against his lips, and suddenly Grindelwald realised his Occlumency shields had faltered in his drunken state. He wrenched his eyes shut and scolded Queenie,

"You stay out of my head, Miss Goldstein."

"I'm sorry, sir." She panted up at him, her lips beautifully bruised from the kissing. She admitted, "I don't _try_ ; you were thinking real hard about it."

"Hmm." Grindelwald locked his mind up tightly then, with some effort through the haze of the alcohol, and he said honestly, "I should go to bed. Busy day tomorrow."

"Okay." Queenie seemed more confused than ever, and once again he could read insecurity on her face. Grindelwald stared at her, right at her eyes, let down his Occlumency shields just a bit, and thought to himself,

 _It's never been anything like this, Queenie. Not with anybody._

He locked his mind up like a Gringotts vault then, feeling abrupt shame and self-ridicule. What on Earth had he just done, showing her a thought like that? What sort of insane ideas would she develop out of that? Nothing good could come of this.

But Queenie just teared up a little and whispered very resolutely,

"You should get some rest, sir, because tomorrow you and I are going on a very important mission. For the greater good."

"For the greater good," Grindelwald nodded, and he backed away slowly from Queenie. He stumbled again, and she reached out with her hands to catch him by his waistcoat, just like he'd caught her with magic in the forest. Suddenly they were all tangled up again, and he considered, for a wild moment, inviting her to come sleep in his bed. She'd do more than sleep, he thought, and he had a vivid notion of peeling off her dress and seeing her back arch as he made her -

"Queenie." His cheeks went hot then, but she seemed to realise one of them needed to end the madness. So she brushed her fingers along his velvet waistcoat and shut her eyes for just a moment, appearing to breathe him in. Then she smiled enchantingly up at him said in a warm voice,

"I'm going to bed, sir. I want to be very well-rested and ready tomorrow. I intend on doing good work for you. We'll find Aurelius and bring him back into your fold. I'll pack my Expanded bag. Thank you so much for the dance. I will… I am grateful for that dance. Goodnight, sir."

"Goodnight." He watched her hustle out of the parlour, listening to her heels clicking on the floor all the way down the corridor. Grindelwald pulled out the Elder Wand and aimed it at the phonograph, gently removing the record and setting it on the table beside the player. He used his wand to move the needle off the player, and then the parlour was still and quiet and Grindelwald was drunk and alone.

Hours later, he lay in his bed, drifting off to sleep, sobering up, his mind cluttered. He needed to find Credence. He needed Dumbledore dead. He needed his followers to continue their work here in Austria. He needed to touch Queenie Goldstein.

No. Why was she so invasive, like an insect buzzing in his skull? Grindelwald squeezed his eyes shut and realised what he'd done in his profoundly drunken state. He'd let down his Occlumency and had shown her that she was special. She was unique. She was alone in his experiences. What a dangerous thing to have done, he thought. What a stupid, foolish, dangerous thing to have done.

But all his self-loathing and scolding did nothing to prevent her from appearing behind his eyelids as he dissolved into slumber. She was there - invasive - and yet her presence sent him into the deepest and most comforting sleep he'd had in years. And when he woke in the morning, prepared to head off to Paris, he was rested and had decided to stop fighting her.

Some battles were not worth the effort.

 **Author's Note: Whew! That was SOME FLUFF, friends. Now for some plot plot plot plot plot. You guys ready to start running into other familiar faces? Mwah hahaha. Thanks so very much for reading - PLEASE REVIEW if you get a quick moment.**


	6. Come Back To Us

"What is this place?" Queenie looked around the elegant townhome in which they'd landed from Calais, and Grindelwald said rather proudly,

"This is my London safe house. It is mine; I put the wards on it myself. Here. Wear this, and you'll be able to Apparate straight inside." He walked over to a mahogany side table where there were a few ceramic pendants on chains, and when he handed one to Queenie, she studied it curiously. It had a symbol upon it - a triangle sliced down the middle with a line, through which a circle cut. She put on the necklace, and she asked,

"Where do we begin, sir?"

"I need you to go out alone, since you require less disguise than I do," he informed her. "Start with Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley and listen to the minds there."

"You want me to see if anyone has seen the boy?" Queenie asked, but Grindelwald shook his head.

"No; he'll be hiding in the shadows like he always does. But that Maledictus from the Circus in Paris… Nagini… he was quite attached to her. She came back here with Dumbledore and the rest, I suspect. If Credence - Aurelius - finds Nagini, he'll stay with her, and if we can find that Maledictus, we'll find our Obscurial."

"So you want me to see if anyone's been thinking about a pretty young woman who turns into a snake," Queenie said sceptically. She sighed. "It's a long shot, but I'll try, sir."

"We must try what we've got, to begin with," he told her. "Go poke around the minds for a bit, then come report to me what you've observed."

Queenie Disapparated, coming to straight into Diagon Alley. After all, she wasn't too familiar with their entry procedure through their pub, and it was easy enough to appear straight into the street. She did startle a nearby woman with her shopping, and Queenie apologised rather profusely, but then she realised her accent was obvious, and she shut up quickly. She began walking very slowly, putting out feelers of Legilimency and letting down the mute sensation she so often threw up to protect herself. The result was cacophony.

 _I can't believe that lying, cheating scoundrel has buggered yet another…_

 _No idea how the blazes we're meant to pay this month's rent. Thirty Galleons for children's robes. Absurd!_

 _Oh, it's far too early for that shop to have Christmas decorations in the window. Lunatics._

 _Wonder if I'll ever get to see Mum again. They say that after you die, you go to some sort of…_

"Queenie? Is that you?"

She froze. She pulled back her feelers and put up her muting as best she could, and then she turned slowly to see Tina and Newt, hand-in-hand, walking behind her down Diagon Alley.

Queenie almost reached for her wand, expecting a duel for some reason. But Tina put her hands up in a show of surrender, and Newt just looked utterly shocked. Queenie took a few steps backward and shook her head quickly.

"Queenie?" Tina's voice cracked, like she was starting to cry, and she moved toward Queenie with her hands up. Suddenly Queenie felt like a rat in a corner, and on impulse, she Disapparated. But just as she did, Tina grabbed her black wool robe and held fast, and she came with by Side-Along. Queenie and Tina came to in some random street of Muggle London, in what appeared to be a run-down part of the city. Queenie stumbled backward and shook her head again.

"Don't you dare try to arrest me," she warned. "He'll come after me if you do."

Tina looked heartbroken at that. "I don't want to arrest you, Queenie. I want you to come back to us."

Queenie yelped as a rat went skittering by on the rubbish-strewn sidewalk, and she realised she'd chosen a bad place to Apparate. She glared at Tina and insisted,

"None of you understood the choice I made that night."

"You are right about that. We don't understand," Tina said, swiping at tears. "We just want you back."

Queenie felt an odd twinge within her then, and she demanded sharply, "Where's Jacob?"

Tina's face twisted a little, and she said, "He went back to New York. He has a bakery to run. He loves you… so much. You broke his heart into a thousand pieces that night, Queenie. You broke my heart, too."

"None of you understand him!" Queenie insisted frantically. An automobile went rattling by, splashing mud up onto the sidewalk, and Queenie quickly moved away from the puddle. Tina asked rather offhandedly,

"What are you doing in London, Queenie?"

"None of your business," Queenie replied. She pried straight into Tina's mind, searching for Aurelius Dumbledore, searching for the Maledictus. But Tina hadn't been thinking of those people.

"Get out of my head, Queenie!" Tina barked, and Queenie yanked her presence from Tina's thoughts. Tina looked betrayed all of a sudden, and she said in a horrified voice, "If our mother and father could see you today…"

"You know what?" Queenie squared her feet and reached up to hold the pendant Grindelwald had given her. "Someday, all the eyes will see, and all the ears will hear, when we take our place. And then, you and I will be sisters again, Teenie."

Tina's mouth fell in shock, and she shook her head. "Come back to us, Queenie. Please."

Queenie shook her head and gripped the pendant. "For the greater good."

Then she Disapparated, leaving Tina standing alone on the dirty sidewalk.

* * *

Many hours later, Queenie had cooked a dinner of roast chicken with potato, and she was finishing up putting all the Scoured pots and pans away in the townhouse's kitchen. She was still wracked with guilt over what had happened. Grindelwald had assured her that it was only a hiccup. They would come up with a better plan - probably one that involved Hogwarts, since that was where Dumbledore was and that was where the Obscurial would need to go to get to Dumbledore. But they would need to be more patient than Grindelwald had anticipated, now that he knew for certain that London was still swarming with the very same enemies he'd just fought off in Paris. And they had no leads on the Maledictus, including from Tina's mind, which was discouraging. Still, somehow, Grindelwald seemed remarkably calm about it all. He seemed completely self-assured that they would find what they were looking for. Queenie felt far more uncertain, and she had a pit in her stomach as she cleaned up from cooking. She was just hanging up the copper roasting pan when a voice behind her said quietly,

"Dinner was delicious. Thank you."

Queenie turned slowly, drumming her fingers on the white tile countertop, and she told him, not for the first time,

"Cooking makes me happy."

"And yet you stay so slim," he joked, tipping his head. "I was once told never to trust a skinny chef."

Queenie laughed a little at that and shrugged. "Just a few bites will do you."

"Hmm." Grindelwald ambled into the bright white and black kitchen, and he put his hands into his pockets as he murmured, "You handled yourself well today. With nothing but loyalty for me. I believe that loyalty deserves a reward."

"A reward?" Queenie felt surprise come over her, and she shook her head nervously. "I don't need a reward. Not from you."

"No?" He raised his eyes to her - his one vibrantly pale eye and his other very dark eye - and he noted gravely, "You want me."

Queenie gripped the edge of the counter. She gulped. "I…"

"You want me." He nodded and said it again. "How much do you want?"

Queenie felt very dizzy all of a sudden. She blinked hard. "I don't know," she whispered. "I don't know, sir."

He stepped closer to her, close enough that she could smell the sea upon him, and she shut her eyes as he asked gently,

"Do you want me inside of you, Queenie? Is that what you want?"

She didn't answer. Her fingers tightened on the edge of the counter, and she felt Grindelwald's fingers brush along her jaw.

"Don't be ashamed," he whispered. "Tell me what you want."

"I'm… a little afraid of that," Queenie admitted. She finally opened her eyes and stared up at him, up at his uneven eyes, and he frowned in confusion. She was afraid of sex, and he seemed baffled by that. Queenie chewed her lip and explained, "They say it hurts real bad the first time. I don't know how bad, but -"

"You are a virgin." Grindelwald's eyebrows rose, and he seemed almost curious. Queenie's breath shook as she mumbled,

"Yeah. I am. I'm sorry. It's just… Jacob and I never actually… that isn't something we did together, so… I guess I am a virgin, yeah. Yes, sir. Sorry."

"Why are you apologising?" He cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to touch his forehead to hers. "It need not hurt at all. Not with a simple _Allevio_ charm and a bit of care. Of course, it is your decision when or if you -"

"Yes." Queenie began to breathe quickly, suddenly entranced by the idea of being in a bed with him. She tried to swallow, found that her throat had gone dry, and whispered desperately, "Yes, please."

Grindelwald backed away from her, smirking in a very self-satisfied way. He nodded and murmured,

"I'll meet you in the blue bedroom in ten minutes."

 **Author's Note: All aboard the Lemon Express! Choo choo! Then back to Real Live Plot (promise!) Thanks as always for reading; please do review if you can. It's appreciated more than you know.**


	7. Gentle

Grindelwald ghosted his fingers along the bannister as he climbed the narrow stairs. Was he actually going to do this? Was he really going to put himself inside the body of this eager young follower and Legilimens? He breathed deeply through his nose as he reached the landing at the top of the stairs, and he licked his lip carefully. Yes, he thought. He was going to do this. His body craved it. His mind craved it. And he was tired of resisting the cravings.

He walked into the blue bedroom on the left, an elegant but small space with toile bedding and curtains, and he held the doorjamb as he encountered Queenie standing in the centre of the room, looking profoundly anxious. Grindelwald's eyes went very wide; she'd stripped off her wool dress and was standing there in a pale pink silk slip and nothing else.

"I'm sorry," she said, squeezing her eyes shut. "I didn't know… if you wanted me to take… what you wanted me to do."

"Queenie." Grindelwald released his hold on the doorjamb and ambled slowly into the room. Blazes, she was beautiful. Her pert nipples poked through the thin silk of her slip. Did she have knickers on, he wondered, or had she removed those, too? Cheeky little creature. She folded her hands before her and shook visibly, and he stepped up to stand before her, wrapping his arms around her and bending to kiss her lips very carefully. He murmured against her mouth,

"We'll go slowly. Carefully. Gently. Hmm?"

"Okay." She raised her eyes to him, and he brushed a thumb under her wide eye. He kissed her again, just a little bit, and she hummed a little bit as her hands went to his waistcoat. He'd already removed his heavy velvet trench before dinner, so all he had on was a white dress shirt, a black waistcoat, and his black trousers. Her fingers started to unbutton the waistcoat, but she was trembling so badly that Grindelwald carefully pushed her fingers away and did the unbuttoning for her. He peeled the waistcoat off and let it drop to the ground, and then he began to unbutton his white shirt. Queenie watched him with fascination, and she whispered,

"I don't know why I'm so nervous."

"I'll help you relax," Grindelwald promised her, and Queenie smiled weakly up at him. He unfastened his tight sleeves and then pulled off his white shirt, peeling off the undershirt, and suddenly he was bare-chested. He let Queenie study him, knowing he was lean and toned but also much older than her. He had never once in his existence cared what anyone else thought of his body. He was Gellert Grindelwald. He was always the one in control; the opinions of those with whom he was physical for the purposes of manipulation were entirely irrelevant. But for some reason, right now, he watched Queenie's eyes and wondered what she thought of him. What was she thinking about his chest, his stomach, his shoulders, his arms?

"You're so handsome," she breathed, and Grindelwald gulped. His fingers went to the buttons on his black velvet trousers, and he moved quickly to unfasten them. He was going hard, looking at her standing before him in nothing but her slip, but he wanted to be fully erect before she saw him. So he whispered in a silky tone to Queenie,

"Take off the slip."

"Yes, sir." She peeled it off in one smooth, practised motion, tossing it away, and she looked like she was struggling not to cover herself. But she was so…

"Lovely." He whispered the word, feeling awe wash over him. He'd seen bare breasts before, many times. He'd never seen breasts like these. Small and round, begging to be touched. He reached out and cupped one in his hand, and it fit just so. Queenie gasped quietly, and as Grindelwald dragged his thumb over her peaked nipple, her eyes fluttered a little. She liked to be touched, he noted. He went harder in his trousers.

"Lovely," he said again, and as he stepped closer to Queenie, he wrapped one hand around her and pressed his palm into the small of her back. He moved his hand from her breast to touch her elsewhere. He brushed his fingers along the gently swelling grooves where her ribs were. He caressed between her shoulder blades and bent to kiss her again, his lips hovering right against hers for a moment as their breaths mingled.

Suddenly he felt the brush of fingers along the front of his trousers, and he realised she'd gathered the courage to reach out and touch him through the material. Her knuckles rubbed at his erection, and Grindelwald pulled her closer by the small of her back and kissed her more ardently. She rubbed again, and he _craved_ her. He retreated from the kiss and mumbled,

"The trousers have to come off eventually, I suppose, hmm?"

"Yeah. I guess they do." Queenie still seemed nervous, but she also seemed more enthused now than she'd been when he'd come in the room. There was fire in her eyes as she watched him push the waistbands of his trousers and underwear down. He tried to move as elegantly as he could, suddenly self-conscious of the gangly way he stumbled out of the trousers and his black socks. He was naked then, clutching his cock in his hand, and he licked his lip, his heart racing as he stared right at Queenie. She was saucer-eyed, her full lips parted, and he knew then that she'd never seen a wizard without his clothes on.

He reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers to reassure her, and Queenie's breath caught as he guided her hand toward his cock. She let him curl her fingers around his shaft, and he struggled to stay composed at the feel of that. Her touch was divine, and she started to move on instinct, flicking her hand back and forth with movements that were jerky at first but quickly became fluid and easy. She began to grip him harder, and suddenly Grindelwald thought that she was going to stroke him right into finishing on the floor of the bedroom. He shoved her hand roughly away and growled quietly,

"Well, that feels entirely too delicious, child. Onto the bed with you."

She scurried off, obediently going to the blue and white toile bed, and Grindelwald suggested,

"Beneath the blankets. Chilly night."

She did as he said, climbing under the heavy quilts and lying on her back. He flicked his hand at her and muttered,

" _Nongravidare._ "

"What was that for?" Queenie sounded nervous, but Grindelwald tossed up a brow as he approached the other side of the bed.

"You don't want a bastard out of this, do you?"

"Oh." Queenie's eyes went wider than ever. "Contraceptive spells are illegal in America."

"Lots of things are illogically illegal in America," Grindelwald noted, and Queenie looked emotional at that. She was thinking of that fat No-Maj she'd left behind. Jacob. Grindelwald cleared his throat, wanting her attention back on him. She snapped to rights, and he crawled into the bed with her. He lay beside her, feeling warmth beneath the quilts, her body heat near him, and he turned his head on the pillow. Queenie reached out tentatively to scratch a bit at the side of his head, where his ice blond hair was cropped extra short, and it felt so good that Grindelwald seethed a breath and hummed,

"Don't stop doing that. I rather like your scalp massages."

"Do you?" Queenie sounded happy at that. He lay there with his eyes shut and just felt her dragging her fingernails around his scalp. Her touch was soothing. Calming. He liked it. He wanted more of it. He reached for her other hand and planted it on his bare chest, where he had very sparse white-blond hair, and she began to scratch a little bit there, too. Grindelwald gasped at the feel of her fingernails all over him. Why did he like this so much? Why did he want her massaging him with just the slightest twinge of agony on the side? It felt… marvelous. It felt orgasmic, and his cock was aching beneath the blankets right now. He reached down and stroked himself, then quickly ripped his hand away, thinking he'd come in a moment's time if he kept touching, and he whispered in the steadiest voice he could manage,

"Queenie, it has been… rather a long while since I have… hmmm… what I mean to say is that this entire endeavour probably ought to move along, if you don't mind."

"Well, sure," she said, and she stilled her hands. He opened his eyes, and suddenly he wanted to kiss her. He reached for her cheek, and he pulled her closer, licking at her bottom lip and sucking it. He had a wild idea all of a sudden, an idea he ought not to have had, and one he'd probably regret later. But he couldn't stop himself from whispering against Queenie's mouth,

"Come into my head, Queenie."

He took down his Occlumency and let her in, pushing forth a few specific ideas, and he felt her breath shake wildly on his lips. She murmured, her voice disbelieving,

"You think I'm beautiful. And you mean it."

"Look deeper than that," he commanded her, kissing her fiercely for a moment and then pulling back. When he did, she whispered frantically,

"It's never been anything like this for you."

"Hmm." He threw his Occlumency shields back up, unwilling to give her more, and he rolled until he was atop her. He urged her legs apart, realised she wouldn't find a peak in her first time with him, and put his fingers between them. Queenie stared up at him with shining, curious eyes, and as he drifted his fingers around her damp folds, he murmured, " _Gaudens Maxima._ "

Queenie squealed in shock and writhed beneath him as a sudden, unexpected climax smacked her body head-on. Her back arched and her fingers clutched the sheets. She drove her head back against the pillow, and her eyes clenched tightly shut. Her breasts heaved, and a pink web of flush worked its way from her forehead all the way down over her chest. Grindelwald just watched her come as he knelt above her, and he gulped hard from how stimulating it was to see.

"How… how did you do that?" she gasped, "Sir?"

"A simple spell," he smirked, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Just as this is a simple enough spell, and one that will ease the pain some witches feel the first time. Hmm? _Allevio._ "

He brushed his fingers over her again, sensing the swollen, sopping results of her climax. He guided his cock toward her entrance and pushed in with one fluid thrust. Her body resisted at first, tight and bound up against him, but she gasped and panted a little, and things settled. Soon enough he was able to buck his hips in and out in a smooth, rhythmic motion, pumping himself into her as she stared up into his asymmetrical eyes.

"Queenie," he heard himself say after a while of thrusting. He went down onto his hands and moved faster, jerking his hips as her body sheathed him, quivering and warm, and it all felt entirely too good. So good. Grindelwald blinked his eyes a few times and felt himself coming before he knew what was happening. White-hot pleasure bursting inside of him, he buried himself to the hilt and emptied himself inside of Queenie as she threaded her arms up around his shoulders. Why did he let her hold onto him like that? Why didn't he tell her not to touch him so intimately?

He Siphoned and Scoured until they were both clean, and he knew the next logical step was to clinically remove himself from the bed and put his elegant clothing back on, to bid her a goodnight and crisply say that they'd work on a plan in the morning to hunt down Credence. Instead he lay on his back in the bed, with Queenie naked beside him, and he murmured,

"Stay the night here."

She turned her head a little toward Grindelwald and then rotated her body. She whispered meaningfully to him,

"Thank you."

He was about to answer, but then there was a tapping on the blue bedroom's window, and he frowned. An owl? A long-distance owl to his safe house?

"Vinda." He hustled out of the bed, unashamed all of a sudden of his nudity, and Queenie sat up slowly. Grindelwald went to the bedroom window and opened the window. In hopped a Peregrine falcon, and he smirked a little. Better than an owl. He pulled the letter off its foot, broke the seal, and shut the window, for it was cold.

 _You asked us to secure locations for meetings in Vienna. We have a place to host a grand ball for followers, but it must be done before Christmas, when the Muggles will take the location over for festivities. Will your current endeavour be completed before then? Shall we begin planning the ball? We await we your orders, and we act, as always,_

 _For the Greater Good._

 _Vinda_

Grindelwald turned the letter over in his hands a few times and considered what a dead end he'd encountered with Credence. The boy would make himself known over time, he knew, but not in the next few days. Meanwhile, Tina Goldstein (and therefore the entire Auror force) knew Queenie was in London and would be looking for her, and by extension for him. They were in quite the conundrum here in London, searching for Credence. But Dumbledore could die next year, for all Grindelwald cared. He would die. That was what mattered. What could not wait was the movement.

"Something wrong, sir?" asked Queenie from the bed, and Grindelwald raised his eyes to her.

"We're going back to Austria," he said, "and you're going to find out just how well I can dance when I'm not blisteringly drunk."

 **Author's Note: Raise your hand if you're excited for a grand ball where Grindelwald gives a speech to his followers and dances with Queenie! Squeee! But I think we're going to need a meeting with Vinda's seamstress first, huh? Thanks as always for reading. Please do review if you get a spare moment! Thanks!**


	8. Come With Me

"Oh, Vinda! You're going to look absolutely beautiful!" Queenie gasped as she walked into Vinda's sitting room, where Madame Trousseau was carefully making alterations with her wand to the hem of the dress robes Vinda was wearing. Standing before a mirror, Vinda was positively resplendent in floor-length violet silk, a long-sleeved gown that was cut low in the front. It moved like water around her when she turned a little and asked Queenie,

"Do you really think it looks good?"

"Marvelous," Queenie breathed, feeling a little jealousy course through her. She cleared her throat and sat on Vinda's divan. She'd been told to come here right at noon for her own dress robe fitting, but it seemed Vinda's fitting was running late. She didn't mind, accepting the tea that floated up and poured itself for her and gently nudging Vinda's insistent pot away. She sipped at her cup as Vinda asked,

"What are you wearing to ze ball, Queenie?"

"Oh. I don't know yet. Madame Trousseau hasn't told me," Queenie said self-consciously. Madame Trousseau was kneeling on the ground, adjusting the hem with her wand, and she said in a sharp voice,

"She will be in gold sequins."

"Gold sequins?" Queenie asked in surprise, smiling a bit. Vinda looked very satisfied.

"We must make you sparkle for him, mustn't we?"

Queenie's smile vanished. "For… for _him?_ "

"I am not blind." Vinda rolled her eyes in the mirror. "None of us are. He will be watching you that night."

Queenie gulped. "I serve the Greater Good."

"As do we all!" Vinda said lightly. The seamstress rose, and Vinda murmured, " _Est-il fini? Oui? C'est parfait. Merci._ "

She carefully stripped off the violet silk gown, which was put onto a mannequin, and she pulled on a sturdier emerald green wool dress over her black slip. She smiled at Queenie and tipped up her chin.

"Your turn. I can't wait to see what you are wearing."

Queenie was self-conscious for some reason as she took off her own dark blue dress, and even more so when Madame Trousseau announced,

"Ze gown is backless. Slip off."

Queenie's eyes bugged out, but Vinda had the good sense and the decency to turn away as Queenie wound up stripping down to her mint green silk knickers and nothing else. Madame Trousseau helped her slide into the gown she brought out of a trunk - a form-fitting sheath constructed entirely of gold sequins. Queenie gasped once it settled onto her body. It had a high, shallow neckline in the front, long, tight sleeves, and an hourglass shape. Queenie rotated a little to see that the back of the gown draped heavily and elegantly, revealing her entire back. Her backside was shaped perfectly by the cut of the gown, and it caressed the ground with just enough train.

"My goodness, Queenie." Vinda Rosier sounded genuinely envious, and when Queenie turned a little bit, there was shock written on Vinda's lovely face. She blinked a few times and shrugged. "He will think you are a Veela."

"Ze gown needs no alteration," insisted Madame Trousseau, studying her creation. "It fits perfectly."

"Perfectly," Vinda nodded. She sighed a little and asked, "Will you do a favour, Queenie?"

"Of course," Queenie nodded, still standing there in her gold sequins. "Anything."

"I stayed for zis fitting, but I am off to Vienna with a few others to secure the manor outside town where ze ball is taking place. We've already Imperiused ze owners; now we have to place all the Security charms and wards. Will you let him know I've got Gablitz, to the town outside Vienna where ze ball is happening? Let him know I'll be back when ze manor is secure?"

Queenie frowned a little. "Why don't you go tell him yourself, Vinda?"

Vinda's cheeks pinked a little, and she shook her head. "No need to bother him. So long as he gets ze message. Will you tell him for me?"

"Of course," Queenie said again, but her confusion was strong. She watched Vinda leave, and she called after her, realising immediately just how bizarre a thing to say it was, "Have fun in Gablitz!"

* * *

 _Friends,_

 _I invite you to come and discuss our future together - the world we will build through a shared vision and a unified effort. After our discussion, we will join in friendship for refreshments and dancing. Formal attire required._

 _Eiche Manor, Gablitz, Austria. Eight in the evening this coming Saturday. Walk through the flames that surround the manor to enter our celebration if you are loyal to the world we will create._

 _I look forward to seeing you all._

 _For the Greater Good._

"Make copies of this." Grindelwald passed the letter up to Larsen, a burly red-haired wizard from Norway who had joined his movement the year earlier. Larsen nodded.

"How many invitations?" he asked, for Larsen kept records of rally attendees and ranked followers by loyalty and activity. Grindelwald tipped his head.

"Vinda says the manor is enormous. I'd like a crowded ballroom; it sends a strong message. Two-fifty, focusing on Austria and Germany. Prioritise newcomers."

"We'll begin sending the owls within the hour," Larsen vowed. "Anything else, sir?"

"No. Go." Grindelwald watched Larsen bow his head and carry the letter out of the office, and as he was leaving, someone else came walking in.

"Excuse me. Sir?"

Queenie.

It had been three days since they'd come back from England, and he'd barely spoken to her since then. Things had been busy, bustling, and they had not been alone anymore. But now she walked into his office and said apologetically,

"I would have knocked, but Larsen but leaving. May I speak to you?"

"Something wrong, Queenie?" Grindelwald drummed his fingers on his desk, feigning impatience, when in reality he had the urge to seal his doors shut and slam Queenie up against the bookshelves lining his office. He licked his lip as Queenie knitted her hands before her and said,

"Vinda Rosier wanted me to tell you that she went to Gablitz."

Grindelwald stopped his fingers.

"She… went to the manor?" he asked. "What, to ward it up?"

"Yes." Queenie nodded matter-of-factly. "For security. She wanted me to let you know that she'd left."

Grindelwald scowled in confusion. "Why did she want you to tell me?"

"I was kind of wondering the same thing," Queenie shrugged, and realisation dawned over Grindelwald. He smirked a little and murmured,

"The poor woman is very jealous. I will have to dine with her, give her a little attention…"

"Attention," Queenie nodded, and now she was the one who looked jealous. Grindelwald rolled his eyes and laughed a little.

"Goodness, ladies," he said softly.

"I serve the Greater Good." Queenie pinched her lips tightly and nodded. "I didn't walk through fire because of how your kisses taste, sir. I walked through fire because I believe in you. And Vinda's the same. We're both loyal, and we always will be. Don't worry."

"What a very good girl you are," Grindelwald hummed. He flicked his eyes down to his desk and noted, "I will have to dance with many supporters. To forge connections. I will only be able to spare you one dance."

"Well, I'll cherish that dance very much, sir," Queenie replied. He measured his words carefully then.

"I want you to dance - and talk - with many male supporters. Smile. You have… you have a very beautiful smile, so…"

"You want to be convincing," Queenie nodded. "You want me to dance with them, read their thoughts, and convince them about the cause."

"You are my soldier, aren't you?" Grindelwald asked, and Queenie nodded vigorously.

"I'll dance all night," she promised him. "I can't wait."

* * *

Blue flame. He had Conjured his special blue flame all around the enormous perimeter of the manor. Now he strode through it, wearing elegant tuxedo robes, and he was followed by dozens of his closest, most loyal servants. All passed safely through the cool blue licks of the flames, the passage that would grant entry to this ball. Queenie followed ten paces behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder at her, his face glowing in the light of the blue fire. He watched her come through the soothing fire, and he flashed her a little smile. As she approached him, he murmured gently to her,

"You look absolutely magnificent. Did you know?"

Then he turned and walked into the manor, throwing the door open with wandless magic. Inside the borrowed manor, the ballroom had been outfitted with an orchestra of self-playing instruments, tables of desserts and hors d'oeuvres, and a fountain of Champagne.

As the guests filtered into the ballroom, Grindelwald spoke with them, looking smooth and collected. He only spent ten seconds or so with each of them, but they all seemed awestruck. Queenie struggled to listen to thoughts; hardly anyone was thinking in English. That was a problem, she realised, and she was surrounded by the cacophony of ideas she couldn't understand. She went to fetch some Champagne, and a handsome wizard in his 20s asked her,

"You are English, I understand?"

"Queenie Goldstein. American." She grinned broadly at him, and she didn't have to read his mind to see lust on his freckled face. He plucked a Champagne flute and filled it from the fountain, and he tipped his glass against Queenie's.

"For the Greater Good. My name is Klaus Reiner. I can't wait to really to work in this movement. What do you do for him?"

 _I read minds,_ Queenie wanted to say, but instead she shrugged and giggled inanely.

"Administrative stuff."

"We will all a role to play," said Klaus Reiner, and Queenie nodded. Suddenly a thudding darkness came over the room, and then the candlelight returned, and everyone went quiet.

People began backing away from the centre of the room, where Grindelwald had settled himself. He stood there in his tuxedo robes, looking absolutely handsome, and Queenie edged her way toward the front of the circle. She grinned at him as he solemnly paced, waiting for complete silence.

"My friends," he said, quietly enough that people had to strain to hear him, leaning forward eagerly, "We have come tonight to discuss what our future is going to hold. We have spoken, in the past, of impending doom, and I hold to it that if we do not take our proper place, we will be utterly eradicated."

There were murmurs and whispers then, and someone called out,

"Kill ze non-Magiques! Destroy zem!"

"No!" Grindelwald shook his head vigorously. "No. We are not the monsters they are. We are not genocidal maniacs the way they are. They are out of control right now. They can not control even themselves. They _need_ us. They need our help, brothers and sisters. Friends. We can help them control their base impulses that have led to disastrous wars, that will lead to mass destruction. And we can save ourselves."

"How will we do this?" cried a voice, and Grindelwald waited for quiet again.

"Infiltration of non-magical communities and governments will be key. There will be conflict. There will be death, but the scale will be so much smaller. Taking just a few lives to save so many lives. And we will establish our dominance - we, the gifted few. We, the small number of minds and souls in which magic has bloomed. We special group of humans who have been naturally entrusted with the care of the world. We will take our place atop it all… For the Greater Good."

People started to clap and cheer, and Queenie frantically searched minds for English thoughts. She got a few.

 _He is brilliant._

 _It all makes so much sense._

 _Why hasn't this been the stance of Ministries before?_

Queenie smiled and clapped, and from behind her, Klaus Reiner said excitedly,

"He is going to save us all."

"Yeah, he is." Queenie turned her head, but Klaus was much closer than she'd thought. She dragged her teeth over her lip and turned back to face Grindelwald, who had raised his voice over the applause and was shouting now.

"Will you be with me on our journey?" he called, and people cried out their assent. Grindelwald stamped his foot and nodded. "My friends! My allies! We will fight together, taking only the lives we must to save the lives of the many! And soon, very soon, for the clock is ticking, brothers and sisters, we will be in our rightful place. And we will do all of this, all of it, every last scrap of it…"

"FOR THE GREATER GOOD!" cried the crowd, and a massive cheer went up. Grindelwald smirked where he stood, raising his arms to encourage more cheering, and then he called out loudly,

"Dance and make yourselves merry in the friendship we cultivate!"

* * *

"So, you liked what you heard tonight, Madame Charpentier?" Grindelwald danced with the middle-aged witch who had come from Switzerland with her wealthy husband for the speech and ball. She smiled weakly at him and nodded.

"Fritz and I are fully onboard. We lived in Switzerland during the non-Magique Great War. Fritz, he went to Belgium to see for himself. The horror… if what you said in Paris is true, and they will do even worse, then there can be no choice. We must control them, for their own sake and for ours."

Grindelwald nodded patiently. "It is good to have brothers and sisters who understand what we strive to do, and even better when they long for our ends."

He raised his eyes then to see Queenie dancing. How could he miss her, there in her sparkling gold sequin gown? He gulped; she was on her second dance with the same young German wizard who had flirted with her before the speech. He frowned a little. Why was she dancing with him again? The song ended at last, and Grindelwald released Madame Charpentier, bowing respectfully to her.

"Thank you kindly, Madame," he said, and she curtsied.

"For ze Greater Good, Monsieur." She walked off, and Grindelwald stalked straight toward Queenie. The boy, Klaus Reiner, hadn't taken his hands off of her even as a waltz started up, and Grindelwald felt an odd flush of anger go through him. He nearly yanked out the Elder Wand as an impulsive rage washed over him and made his ears ring.

"Excuse me. Miss Goldstein, may I cut in?" He kept his voice smooth as silk, like water flowing over stone, and both Queenie and Klaus Reiner stopped dancing and turned to him. Reiner quickly stumbled backward, bowing his head, and he mumbled,

"By all means, sir. Please."

"Thank you so very much, Herr Reiner," Grindelwald said warmly, and he wrapped Queenie up in his arms. He put his right hand to her bared back and laced his fingers through her other hand, and he began to waltz with her. He stared down into her eyes as they moved in an easy three-step, and Queenie noted nervously,

"You're a wonderful dancer when you're sober."

"Why were you on your third dance with that boy?" Grindelwald snapped, and Queenie gulped. She shook her head and admitted,

"I couldn't get him to go away, sir. I danced with lots of other people, but Mr Reiner just kept saying, _How about another one, Miss Goldstein?_ and I wasn't sure if I should reject him or not. I… felt trapped."

Grindelwald glared over his shoulder to where Reiner was eating pastries now, and he briefly considered killing the boy. But the optics of that would be terrible. _Gellert Grindelwald murders loyal, enthusiastic follower for dancing too many times with same witch._ It was ludicrous. So he turned his eyes back down to Queenie, and he pointed out,

"Well, he's gone now."

"Yeah. You rescued me." Queenie grinned, and Grindelwald laughed a little. He swallowed the knot in his throat and said, "My feet hurt from these shoes; I've been dancing with donors and strangers for two hours. And I've been watching you the entire time."

"Have you?" Queenie blushed, and she shook her head. "Then you'll be disappointed to hear that all the European wizards I've been dancing with haven't given me much information. I can't make sense of their thoughts."

"It's all right. Tonight has been very successful," Grindelwald said. "A smashing success. I'm about ready to head back to Nurmengard, though. I should be the first one to leave. I'll go as soon as this song is over."

"My feet hurt, too," Queenie complained quietly, staring up at him, and suddenly he sensed hunger from her. He brushed his thumb over hers and glanced up to see Vinda Rosier dancing with Larsen, and on Vinda's face he read resignation. She knew what was going on. Who else knew? Who else could sense Grindelwald's attraction to Queenie Goldstein? Just how obvious was he? He gulped and stared down at her.

"You are painfully beautiful tonight."

"That's very kind of you to say," Queenie whispered, her dance steps faltering and her eyes watering a little. "You look very handsome in those tuxedo robes. And your speech. Oh. Your speech."

He smirked and kept caressing her thumb with his. He wanted to bend to kiss her. But instead he did something equally as stupid, something just as foolhardy.

"Come with me."

She frowned up at him, and he clarified,

"Come back to Nurmengard with me as soon as the song is over."

Queenie stared at him, studying his uneven eyes, and asked gravely, " _With_ you, sir?"

The song concluded, and Grindelwald answered her by taking her left hand in her right one and walking her off the dance floor. He could feel eyes on them, could feel people watching him guiding the beautiful blonde witch in the golden sequins out of the ballroom. Good, he thought. Let Vinda see him take her back to his castle with her hand in his. Let Klaus Reiner see them walk out of the ball together. Let his followers see that he got his way, that he could take what he wanted when it was freely given, that witches fell over themselves to be with him. Let them all see him stride swiftly out of the ball with Queenie Goldstein.

He held her hand out the front doors of the manor, and through his blue flame, and then when he Disapparated, he aimed straight for his bedroom, and he took her with him.

 **Author's Note: Okay, it's just a little too fun to write Grindelwald speeches! LOL. Hope I did okay with that. Also, raise your hand if you think Grindelwald in tuxedo robes would be super hot. Hehe. Thanks as always for reading and PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!**


	9. Possessive

Queenie stood in Grindelwald's beautiful stone-walled bedroom, which overlooked the mountains below, and she scowled deeply as she muttered,

"I, um… I can't do with you tonight what we did at the townhouse in London."

"No?" Grindelwald pulled off his bow tie and tossed it away, and he stripped off his heavy tuxedo robe. "Why not?"

Queenie's cheeks went very hot, and she thought of the Absorbency Charm she'd cast on herself early this morning, after waking with blood in her knickers. She gulped.

"Um… lady problems?" she said, feeling humiliated. Grindelwald was oddly untroubled by her admission. He shrugged and undid the little black buttons going down his crisp white shirt.

"Another time, then."

Queenie searched his face for anger or disappointment, but all she saw was calm contentment. He was still happy from how well his speech and the ball had gone. Queenie nibbled her lip and muttered,

"Goodnight then, sir. Your speech really was amazing. Thank you."

She turned and started to walk toward the door, but his voice snapped from behind her,

"Where are you going?"

Queenie turned round and shrugged. "I… I can't give you what you wanted. Why you brought me back here."

Grindelwald scoffed and scratched at his hair a bit, shirtless now. He unbuttoned his trousers and informed her,

"I brought you here to sleep in my bed, Queenie. You're not too incapacitated to manage that, are you?"

"N-No." Queenie felt wonder go through her then, and she glanced down as she said, "I'll have to Summon a nightgown from my quarters or something. This gown isn't exactly…"

"Here." Grindelwald opened his wardrobe behind him and pulled out a grey flannel tunic. He tossed it to Queenie, and she stared at it in her hands. Was he really offering her his shirt to sleep in? In his bed?

She stripped off her gold sequin gown and pulled on his comfortable flannel tunic, Scouring her face and teeth, and she turned to see Grindelwald in crisp black pyjamas. He went into his bathroom and shut the door for a few minutes, and when he came out, he smelled more like the ocean than ever. Queenie gulped, and she followed him to the plush bed with its black and grey brocade bedding. His bed was so high that she had to practically jump to get up into it, so she giggled a little. He smirked at her as they settled beneath the blankets.

"Your speech made me tingle from head to toe," Queenie said as she lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. Beneath the blankets, Grindelwald reached for her fingers and wrapped his around hers, and he murmured,

"I disliked seeing you with that German boy."

"Who, that Klaus guy that wouldn't go away?" Queenie laughed a little, but when she turned her face to Grindelwald, she saw how serious he was, and her smile disappeared. She cleared her throat and noted, "You were… jealous?"

"No," he barked. "I was…"

There was a very long pause, and finally he whispered,

"Possessive."

He was possessive of her? In what way? Seeking clarification, Queenie nervously smiled and said,

"Well, yeah. You can be possessive, because I'm yours. Just like Vinda and Abernathy and Larsen and -"

"It's different." Grindelwald shut his eyes and reclined further back against the pillows as he murmured, " _Du gehörst mir in einer Weise, die mich quält._ "

"What does that mean?" Queenie asked uneasily, and Grindelwald just shook his head a little.

"You really did look lovely in that gold sequin gown, Queenie."

She was quiet beside him for a long moment, until she finally wondered aloud,

"May I ask you something, sir? If you want Albus Dumbledore dead, why don't you just go kill him yourself? It's for the Greater Good, isn't it? Why do you need Aurelius to do it?"

Grindelwald opened his eyes, and his throat bobbed visibly.

"Once upon a time, there were two foolish young boys," he said, his voice low and steady. "One of the boys, Albus, was very much enamoured with the other boy, Gellert. Together they vowed to save the world. They did other things, too. Touching and more; you can imagine what two excited boys in a summer could accomplish."

Queenie's mind suddenly raced with the idea of young Grindelwald and young Dumbledore, kissing and holding each other, possibly making love, and she gulped. Grindelwald murmured softly,

"He got what he wanted from me, which was attention and affection. And what I wanted from him was loyalty and service to the dream I possessed. Things got complicated later in ways I can not describe to you, but… we made a pledge. A vow. A pact."

"An Unbreakable Vow?" Queenie asked tentatively, and Grindelwald whispered,

"A Blood Pact. We would never move against one another. I can not harm him, nor he me. Not directly." He turned his face to Queenie and narrowed his eyes. "I don't know why I've told you this; I ought to Obliviate you at once."

Queenie's eyes went wide, and she swallowed hard as she told him,

"I will always keep your secrets."

He breathed slowly through his nose and finally said in a quiet tone,

"I almost killed that boy for dancing with you so much."

Queenie wasn't sure why that made her smile. She should be horrified by such a confession. But it was somehow endearing - the idea that his jealousy had been so powerful. She reached to scratch at his scalp gently, just the way he liked, and she murmured,

"He just thought I was pretty."

"You are, obviously," Grindelwald snarled softly, pulling her close, and she started to come alive for him. Suddenly she was profoundly irritated by her inability to have sex with him right now. She wanted it. She wanted it badly. She wanted _him_. She wanted to give herself to him, to pour herself into him like pouring wine into a glass.

He started to kiss her, and Queenie moaned a bit against his mouth. She held his cheek in her hand and pressed her body against his, suddenly reminded that she was wearing his flannel tunic. She felt his erection against her thigh, and she murmured onto his lips,

"Let me please you."

"I do not require it," he answered her, but he hissed when she reached her hand boldly down into the waistband of his black pyjama trousers and began fondling his mostly-hard cock. She pumped at him a little, and he groaned against her mouth. Their breath mingled as his hand went to her breast and squeezed. That hurt, for she was sensitive this time of the month, but she tried not to let him know that she'd felt pain. She must have failed at that, she thought, for his hand slipped away and he whispered,

"I apologise."

"Yeah. Me, too," Queenie lamented, slithering down beneath the blankets. He seemed to realise immediately what she meant to do. She had done this to Jacob a few times - it didn't require illegal contraceptive charms, and so it had seemed safer. She pulled down on Grindelwald's trousers to reveal his pale thatch of hair and his rigid, throbbing cock. She knelt between his legs and clutched his shaft in one hand, sliding her mouth down over his tip.

He grunted as she moved, and his hands slid into her hair, holding onto her head as she began to bob up and down on his length. She twisted her hand as it moved in the lubrication of her saliva, trailing behind her mouth with every pump. Her tongue moved against him, caressing his tip, and after awhile, she stopped pumping and paid particular attention to the tip. He seemed to like that quite a lot, so much that he mumbled,

"Mmm… _Eilen!_ You had best decide now if you want to taste it or not, Queenie, because it's… mmph…"

His hands tightened in her hair, and Queenie plunged her mouth hard onto him, so hard that his tip bumped the back of her throat and made her gag a little. Then suddenly her mouth was filled with a bitter, metallic taste, and she swallowed it down as quickly as she possibly could. It was awful, the flavour of it, but she tried to rid herself of it by swallowing fast. She pulled off of his cock and gasped for air, dragging the inside of her wrist along her swollen lips, and she watched as he lay in still silence, his chest heaving.

" _Dulcis,_ " he wandlessly incanted at last, flicking his hand up to Queenie, and she licked her lip as a sweet flavour took over her mouth, like she'd just licked candy. She grinned her thanks down to him, and as he tucked himself away into his pyjama trousers, she moved to lie down beside him again. He pulled the heavy blankets up around them, and then the two of them faced the same direction so that he was cradling her from behind. He wrapped his arm around her, and she stared out his floor-to-ceiling windows, marveling, not for the first time,

"So many stars here."

"Someday soon, this castle will be the centre of the world," Grindelwald informed her. "From here I will administer everything we are working to build. And you will be here to see it all, won't you, Queenie?"

"All of it," she said back. His hand covered hers, and she remembered the thought he'd let her perceive when they'd been in London. _It has never, ever been like this. Not with anyone._ Then he'd been profoundly jealous of Klaus Reiner dancing with her at the ball. He was holding her in his bed right now.

What exactly did exist between them? Was there something of note between Queenie Goldstein and Gellert Grindelwald? Or was she just another fling, like Albus Dumbledore had been one summer? Suddenly she had a wild idea, a way to make him adore her, a way to make him care deeply about her, and she impulsively suggested,

"I could do it, if Aurelius won't."

"What, you could kill Albus Dumbledore for me?" Grindelwald asked incredulously from behind her. Queenie stared out the window, but Grindelwald pet her hair and kissed the skin beneath her ear, and he told her, "You are not a killer, Queenie. The boy will make himself known to me. I have other means of accomplishing my goals. You… I want to keep you clean. Murder is a very dirty business, and you are beautifully clean."

She blinked and wondered just how far she'd fallen to even have contemplated the idea. If Tina could see her now, she thought, and she shut her eyes. She began to drift off to sleep, finding herself very comfortable in the arms of the man who wanted absolutely everything.

* * *

When Grindelwald woke in the morning, he was on his back, and Queenie had moved in the night to sprawl halfway onto him. She had cradled her face onto his chest, and her hand was up on his shoulder. He lay there, awake, for a half hour while she slept on him, for it was very comfortable.

He'd never even begun to consider invited Vinda into his bed. And when he'd been a boy and he and Albus had held one another, it had felt hollow and empty on Gellert's side. But nothing felt hollow now. Nothing felt empty now. She felt whole and warm and beautiful wrapped up against him.

He craved more than just her body, he realised.

When at last they both dragged themselves from bed, she pulled on her gold sequin gown and muttered,

"Everyone will see me walk through the castle in this and know I slept with you."

"Transfigure it, then," he shrugged, but she smirked a little as she folded his flannel tunic and handed it back over, and she said quietly,

"Maybe I don't mind so badly if they know."

Grindelwald smiled at that; he couldn't help himself. He pulled on his black velvet trench coat and slid on his boots, and he admitted,

"Maybe I don't mind, either."

Twenty minutes later, he was in his office opening mail that had come - owls that had been told by followers to come here with letters of admiration, which he Vanished after reading them, and then a thicker, sealed envelope. He cracked open the seal on that one, recognising the _M_ from the British Ministry of Magic, and he pulled out the letter inside. He instantly recognised the handwriting of the spy he had in the British Auror office - Alva Selwyn, who worked an administrative position in the office but was liable to overhear things.

 _Sir,_ the letter began,

 _The Maledictus Nagini who has been, as of late, quite attached to Theseus Scamander and his brother, along with Porpentina Goldstein from MACUSA, has not been seen in days. Yesterday, I heard Theseus Scamander asking someone whether they had seen Nagini. It seems that she has disappeared. I thought this information might be of note to you. As always, I act in the interest of_

 _The Greater Good._

 _Alva Selwyn_

Grindelwald crumpled the letter in his hand a little. The Maledictus had gone missing from her Auror friends. That meant Credence had found her. Would they just run away together, or would Credence act against Dumbledore? Should Grindelwald go back to England to hunt down the Obscurial and the Maledictus himself, or should he set a trap?

Yes.

A trap. It had worked in Paris. It had worked brilliantly, with the half-elf servant whose death had prompted Credence to explode into a fit of Obscurial rage before being lured gently back into line by Grindelwald.

All he needed was a way to get the Obscurial and the Maledictus brought to him, instead of the other way round, trigger an explosion in Obscurus form, and then ease Credence into loyalty.

And Grindelwald had just the idea.

 **Author's Note: Hmm! What is this mysterious trap idea? And sorry about all that fluff, but these two are starting to get serious! Thanks for reading. Twenty points to your House if you review! (And I love hearing what Houses my readers are Sorted into, so let me know!)**


	10. Twenty-Three People

"Vinda. Larsen. I have a mission for you." Grindelwald tented his fingers together and smirked a little at the followers he'd brought together across his desk. Vinda nodded.

"For ze cause, and for you, _Monsieur?_ Anything."

She seemed downright blissful at the idea of having been summoned into duty again, and Grindelwald knew why. As of late, Vinda had become jealous of Queenie, and with due cause. Queenie had consumed a fair bit of Grindelwald's attentions, after all, and Vinda had been left largely in the dark. But now Vinda had an important role to play. She was going to set a trap for Credence.

"I need you two to go to Hogsmeade in England," Grindelwald said. "The Maledictus Nagini is missing from her Ministry friends, which means she is with Aurelius Dumbledore. He, in turn, will be looking for an opportunity to corner Albus Dumbledore, and I believe he'll find it on the next Hogsmeade visit."

"You think the Obscurial will try to intercept Albus Dumbledore in Hogsmeade village?" asked Vinda curiously. Grindelwald nodded.

"My Legilimens saw the idea of it in his head when last he was here. A fleeting, violent image, but one that he may still be contemplating." Grindelwald nodded. "If nothing else, he and the Maledictus will go to Hogsmeade to scope out chances to target Dumbledore. They will be at Hogsmeade, Now. What I do not want is a big show wherein the Obscurial destroys all of Hogsmeade and kills half the student body. That will do nothing for our cause."

"So, what are we to do?" Asked Vinda, neatly folding her hands over her tailored skirts.

"Trap the Maledictus," said Grindelwald. "Take her two our secondary safe house in London. If my sources are correct, then where she goes, the boy will follow. He will come straight to her. When you have her at the secondary safe house, I will be there, waiting for the boy."

"And what will you do then?" asked Larsen. Grindelwald raised his pale brows and said,

"You leave that bit to me."

* * *

"This place is filthy," Queenie noted as a rat scurried by. She half-jokingly asked Grindelwald, "You couldn't have secured a tidier safe house?"

"Its cleanliness is of very little value to me just now," Grindelwald stated, sticking his hands into his pockets and staring out the dirty window. Queenie was about to cast some Scouring charms on the old London flat when Vinda, Larsen, and a passenger came Apparating into the apartment.

" _Petrificus Totalus,"_ murmured Grindelwald, and the beautiful Maledictus, Nagini, collapsed rigidly onto the floor. Like a board toppled over, the teetered and then fell. He held his hands up triumphantly and declared, "And now we wait for our Obscurial friend."

Vinda and Larsen looked at one another in concern, and Queenie tried to read their minds through the foreign languages. Finally she deciphered,

"Nagini wasn't alone, but she wasn't with Aurelius Dumbledore."

"What do you mean?" hissed Grindelwald, and Vinda admitted,

"She was with that short-haired brunette Auror we saw in Paris. We snatched her and Disapparated, but -"

"Fools!" yelled Grindelwald, but it was too late. Suddenly, into the safe house appeared Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein, Travers, a few other Aurors, and even Newt Scamander.

Grindelwald acted quickly. He began casting flying curses at the Aurors, who duelled him straight back. All of a sudden, Vinda Rosier collapsed and didn't get back up. Queenie whipped her wand out and found herself aiming it right at Tina.

"Don't do this, Queenie," Tina said, shaking her head, but Queenie knew where she stood. She opened her mouth to cast a Curse, but before she could, Tina had snatched at her sleeve and Disapparated.

Everything went black and cold then. For a long, long while, Queenie had no idea where she was or what was happening. She was lost in a black void, until she awakened in a bright white tiled room, sitting at a table, across from Tina, Newt, and Theseus Scamander.

"Tina," Queenie said cautiously, "You gotta let me go."

"You are being held as an enemy of MACUSA and the British Ministry of Magic," said Queenie, "owing to your active support of the criminal Gellert Grindelwald. How do you plead to these accusations?"

"What? I'm not a criminal!" Queenie held her hand to her chest and realised she'd been shackled. She scowled down at her heavy wrists. "Teenie, I'm just fighting for the greater good."

"For the greater good, huh?"

"Jacob?" Queenie looked up to see Jacob walking through the doorway. "Honey, what are you doing here?"

"They brought me here, thought I could talk some sense into you," Jacob said in a disheartened voice. "Sweetheart, how could you be fighting for that… that killer?"

"You all don't understand him!" Queenie shook her head wildly. "You don't understand that he's -"

 _ **BANG!**_

"What was that?" asked Jacob, his eyes going wide, and Newt said,

"If I had to guess, that would be Gellert Grindelwald coming to fetch Queenie."

"Theseus, take her to room six," said Tina quickly, rising to her feet. Theseus Scamander whipped out his wand, but before anyone could do anything further, the door of the white room slammed open and Gellert Grindelwald came stalking in, trailed by blue whipped he fire in front of him, and Theseus, Newt, Jacob, and Tina all skittered backward against its might.

"Come, Queenie," said Grindelwald smoothly. "Time to go."

He held something in his hand, a strange little cube that had his triangular symbol with the circle and line on it on each of its six sides. He held it out, and Queenie rushed through the blue flame and into his arms. The moment she crossed the flame, the bindings on her wrists dissolved. She held fast to Grindelwald and looked back over her shoulder through the blue glow, wondering if this would be the last time she would see Tina and Jacob. Just in case, she whispered,

"Goodbye."

And then she vanished with a _whoosh_ , into the pinching black whirl with Gellert Grindelwald.

* * *

An unmitigated disaster. That was what it had been. Vinda Rosier was mangled and had barely escaped with her life. The Maledictus had escaped unharmed. Credence's location was still unknown. And Queenie had been taken hostage by the British Ministry - including by her own sister. They'd even used her old boyfriend against her to try and turn her against Grindelwald.

An unmitigated disaster. Nothing about it had gone according to plan.

"Vinda."

He walked into her rooms to find her still healing up from the Blistering Curse she'd taken. She'd be left with awful scars; her beautiful face would be gone forever. But Vinda hurried to her feet and bowed her head.

" _Monsieur._ "

"I want another large meeting in Vienna planned," Grindelwald nodded. "Another party. It went so well last time, and we need the positivity right now. Begin scoping out locations for a good time. Doesn't have to be a ball, just… a good time."

"I understand. I'll begin planning straight away." Vinda looked dejected where she stood, and so Grindelwald moved over to her and gently kissed each of her cheeks as he murmured,

"Still beautiful."

He turned round and saw Queenie standing in the doorway, looking shocked, and she stammered,

"I was… I was just wondering if anybody wanted dinner."

Grindelwald cleared his throat, glanced from Vinda to Queenie, and said, "Sounds magnificent."

A half hour later they were at a table with food that Queenie had cooked for them, but she was incredibly sour as she sawed into her steak. Grindelwald rolled his eyes.

"She's been burned."

"She'll always be beautiful," Queenie noted. Grindelwald glanced around and finally set down his fork and knife.

"It hasn't ever been like you for me, you understand? When you disappeared out of that safe house, I realised I would have done just about anything to get you back. Do you realise how terrifying that is? Hmm?"

"No, sir." Queenie looked awfully surprised, but he informed her tightly,

"I killed twenty-three people getting you out of that Ministry."

Queenie's stomach sank. Twenty-three people had died so she could escape ministry custody? Twenty-three human beings? How could that be? Now she just felt awful. She blinked a few times and whispered,

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't you ever be jealous of Vinda Rosier again," he snapped. "Do you understand me, Miss Goldstein?"

She was struck through with fear then, but she nodded and murmured, "I understand, sir."

"You'll have to find a way to outdo yourself when it comes to that gold sequin dress," he said, picking up his fork and knife again. "We're having another party. And this time you're walking in on my arm."

 **Author's Note: I do sincerely apologize for days with no updates. I was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room and have been in the ICU for several days. I am just now well enough to use my computer just a little bit. I apologize for typos as I have a pulsox monitor on my finger and can't wear my glasses. I will do my best to update tomorrow, but I have a head MRI scheduled midday, so it won't be until later.**

 **Sorry for the excuses and thank you for your understanding. I hope you are still enjoying the story and that it's still making sense. I am here with brain issues so please let me know if it isn't making sense and I'll hold off writing. Thank you.**


	11. In The Open

He found her drunk in a parlour.

It was a frigid day, snowing like mad outside the castle, and everyone was hunkered down in the storm. Grindelwald had gone looking for Queenie around six in the evening, having not seen her all day, and finally found her in a stout green parlour with her opera playing on the phonograph. Only this time, instead of Grindelwald stumbling in drunk on firewhisky, she was already sloshed in elf-made wine.

She was sitting on the divan, the mostly-empty bottle before her, and she appeared to have been crying for some time. She hiccoughed and heaved, and as Grindelwald walked into the room, he came to sit on the divan beside her and asked softly,

"What's wrong, Queenie?"

He leaned his elbows on his knees and folded his hands before him, and Queenie leaned rather brazenly only his shoulder as she murmured,

"Twenty-three people had to die so I could escape the Ministry. Twenty-three people."

"Ah. Queenie." Grindelwald stared at Queenie for a long moment, listening to the opera playing on the phonograph, and he asked her, "When I used my skull to show the horrific war that will come to pass if we do not take our rightful place, was it enough to convince your sister and the others to join our cause?"

Queenie swiped at her beautiful eyes and shook her head. "No. It wasn't even enough to convince Jacob, and he fought in the last No-Maj war."

"Even seeing that millions would die, those Aurors remained unconvinced of the importance of what we are striving to do," Grindelwald told her. "Even seeing that No-Majs will be marched off to death camps, that they will detonate weaponry unheard of in human history, still they are blind to the critical nature of what we are doing."

Queenie was silent. Grindelwald put a hand between her shoulder blades and put his lips near her ear.

"So few lives taken to spare so many. If I had let them keep you, Queenie, our cause may have crumbled. We need you. _I_ need you. And so I had to take a few lives to save millions. You understand?"

"Millions," she whispered, sounding utterly drunk. "Millions of lives."

"You will help me spare millions," he murmured, and he kissed the skin beneath her ear. "Now, let's get you to bed, shall we? You're just a little drunk."

"Will you dance with me?" Queenie asked, her voice garbled. Grindelwald smirked a little and pulled back, shaking his head.

"We've done our share of drunken dancing," he reminded her. "I'll dance with you at the party."

"The party that Vinda's planning." Queenie's eyes were like glass then, and she frowned. Grindelwald sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear, opening his mouth to speak, but Queenie asked in a cracked voice, "Are you in love with her? With Vinda?"

Grindelwald raised his pale brows and shook his head. Why was he giving her an answer to this question? She didn't deserve an answer; she deserved jealousy. She deserved to feel envious, to feel rage toward him. He'd commanded her to never be jealous of Vinda again, and here she was, asking if he was in love with her. And here he was, leaning forward and kissing her drunken, full lips and murmuring,

"How could I love another witch when I've been stuck with you, hmm?"

He tried to make light of his idiocy, tried not to sound like a blithering buffoon, but the way Queenie stared at him told him all he needed to know. He was an utter moron for her. He gulped and guided her to her feet, Silencing the music and escorting her on her unsteady legs out of the parlour. She was stumbling, and he was tempted to Levitate her straight back to her quarters. But they made it there eventually, and he pushed open her door and walked her inside. He shut the door and mumbled,

"You can get yourself into bed, I take it."

She bit her lip hard and started to unbutton the front of her dress as she asked, "Is there anything… anything I can do for you, sir?"

"Not right now, Queenie; it isn't right when you've been drinking, hmm?"

He turned to go, but she reached for his wrist, and he turned back around slowly. She swallowed hard and tried to steady herself on her feet as she told him,

"I started drinking because I was jealous and frightened and I felt guilty. But now I feel… you make me feel strange things I can't control, and I…"

"Goodnight, Queenie." Grindelwald had heard enough. His heart was racing in his chest. He had a speech to prepare. He licked his lip and stared at her for a long moment.

"Goodnight," she whispered back, and he let her keep holding his wrist, let her keep staring at him. He blinked and tried to pull away, tried to leave her rooms, but instead he took a step closer to her and asked,

"What colour are you wearing to the party?"

"Red and black," Queenie informed him. "I tried on the dress today. It's real pretty."

"I'm sure it is." Grindelwald had had enough deprivation. He slid up to Queenie and put his hand to the small of her back. He touched at her hair with his other hand and kissed her gently, tasting wine on her, tasting peppermint, and he grunted a little. She responded in full, her knees buckling a little beneath them as she backed up toward her bed.

"No," Grindelwald insisted, shaking his head. "Not while you're drunk, my dear."

"I won't regret it," Queenie promised, dragging her teeth over her lip, but Grindelwald sighed and shook his head as he murmured,

"The party's tomorrow. Measure your Champagne and we'll have fun afterward, all right? Hmm. Goodnight."

He turned on his foot and walked with brisk steps from her room, hearing her voice say softly behind him,

"Goodnight."

* * *

"Friends… Brother and Sister Witches and Wizards. You have come to celebrate the future for which we all long," said Gellert Grindelwald, standing in the centre of the ballroom of another 'borrowed' manor outside Vienna. The crowd was rapt as they listened to him speak. "For too long, witches and wizards have languished under the yoke of secrecy. Indeed, secrecy has been the law of many lands for centuries. Look at the very technologies we have been forced to develop. Why, the broomstick itself emerged out of a need for hiding! But if we could have been in the open, friends, what might we have made? What could we have done in these last few hundred years, had we been unshackled by the mighty weight, the unbearable cloak, the hideous shroud of secrecy?"

People began to applaud, to clap vigorously at that question, and Queenie wondered herself what America would have been like without Rappaport's Law. She pinched her lips and applauded with the others, her black satin gloves muting the sound of her clapping. Grindelwald continued,

"Why should we not live our lives in the open? We are gifted, brothers and sisters, with a unique and rare ability that only blossoms in the minds and souls of a select few. Why should we be forced to squelch our gifts? Why not, instead, openly practise our magic? What would this require of us, and of the world? Well, it will require that the non-Magique, the No-Majs, the Muggles be placed in their natural order. But there is a natural order for everything. There is a place in this world for everything, and the gifted few belong in the position of freely utilising our gifts and protecting the world from the more barbaric types among us."

There was more rapturous applause, and as Grindelwald rotated, looking devilishly handsome in his tuxedo robes, he caught Queenie's eye. He stared at her then as he spoke, making her shiver like mad.

"Some of us are particularly gifted," he said, "and it is these incredibly few whose place in our movement I value more than I can say. But each of us will have a role to play. Who will be with me when our new world dawns? Who will be with me when we take our place?"

Cheers went up, and Queenie shut her eyes, feeling dizzy. She'd walked into this room on Grindelwald's arm, just like he'd promised her she would do. There had been murmurs and whispers about that. Poor burned Vinda had looked heartbroken, but she'd quickly gravitated toward Larsen, and soon enough it was obvious that something was smouldering between those two. Queenie had taken her place among the crowd, and though she'd spotted Klaus Reiner, he'd let her be this time around. It was obvious, probably, that she'd come in with Grindelwald. Perhaps Reiner knew better than to flirt with the witch who had walked in on Gellert Grindelwald's arm. One would hope the boy had enough sense for that.

"Queenie."

She opened her eyes at last to see Grindelwald standing before her, and she stared at him, wide-eyed. People's eyes were still locked on him, though they had started to mingle. The self-playing orchestra had started up, and Grindelwald smirked a little.

"Dance with me?"

Her mouth fell open. "Don't you need to dance with -"

"I'd like you to dance with me," he said quite firmly, and Queenie took his hand and let him lead her out to the dance floor. The black beads covering her red dress moved and swished and clacked around her as she walked with him, and she suddenly remembered him leading her through the blue flame surrounding the manor earlier tonight.

"Through flame," she said quietly, "again and again for you."

"Hmm?" He turned, wrapping her up into a dancing stance, and Queenie thought of Jacob and what a fool he'd been. He hadn't even been able to see that a war that would kill millions of people was worth preventing. He couldn't see that Grindelwald wanted a world where witches like Queenie could live in the open instead of hiding like rats. Why couldn't Jacob see any of that?"

"You are distracted," Grindelwald noted, and Queenie realised she'd been staring intently at his pale eye with its red rim. She had probably seemed awfully rude. She gulped and mumbled,

"Just thinking about what idiots they all are."

"Ah." Grindelwald looked around the ballroom and ordered her, "Try not to think of them; tonight you are surrounded by new friends and allies who think very much like you and I do. I want you to focus on the good, Queenie. Your life, moving forward, will have an awful lot of good in it, and I want you to focus on that instead."

"Yes, sir." She swayed with him more determinedly then, and when the song ended and he kept dancing with her, she asked, "Don't you need to -"

"I'd like to dance with you." Grindelwald gave her a very serious look, and she realised something. He was staking a claim over her. Walking in her with her on his arm, staring at her during his speech, dancing twice in a row with her… he was claiming her. She felt her heart race, her stomach clench, and she wanted him badly all of a sudden.

"I would have burned down the entire British Ministry of Magic to get you out of there," he said quietly, and Queenie's lips parted. She listened to the violins playing, to the piano from the corner, and she murmured,

"I promise I'll serve you properly."

"Hmmm." Grindelwald's thumb dragged over hers, and she just stared up at him until the second song ended. She thought for sure he'd step away then, but he just pulled her closer for the third song, and then he whispered down into her ear,

"I want to take a break. Come with me."

He led her out of the ballroom then, holding her hand, and he seemed to ignore the way everyone was staring at him as Queenie trotted to keep up with him. He went out into the corridor beyond the ballroom and down the hall, over an elegant Turkish rug and past a large table. He pushed open a white painted door and brought Queenie into the parlour beyond, and when he shut the door, he whipped out his thin, knobby wand and murmured,

" _Colloportus._ "

The door locked up, and he whirled on Queenie, sweeping her into a kiss so quickly that she stumbled backward, tripping a little. He caught her up and guided her down onto a plush velvet sofa in the moonlit parlour. The blue light from the window was so dim that Queenie couldn't even tell what colour the sofa was onto which she'd landed with an _oof_ ; only that it was dark velvet. Suddenly Grindelwald was atop her, hovering over her and kissing her fiercely, shoving her face aside and attacking her neck with his teeth and lips.

"Oh, Merlin." Queenie drove her head back against the arm of the sofa and wrapped her arms around Grindelwald's tuxedo robe. This kiss felt _good_. She felt his fingers trail up the insides of her thighs, felt him push aside her knickers, and she gasped. He began to toy with her, to play with her damp folds, and she flushed wet at once until she was soaked around his fingers. He slid them back and forth, and then he twisted two of his fingers into her and pumped them, dragging circles on her nub with his thumb.

"Ohhh!" Queenie clutched at his head and wrenched his mouth onto hers, kissing him hard as he massaged her. She was going to finish if he wasn't careful. This felt too good. Lying here on this sofa in some No-Maj's manor while everyone partied down the corridor. What was she doing?

When she did finish, he groaned loudly into her mouth, seeming incredibly aroused by the way her walls clenched around his fingers and the way her fluids flushed around his touch. He finally yanked her knickers down and his mouth from hers and muttered,

" _Nongravidare Maxima._ "

There was that contraceptive spell he'd used in England, Queenie thought. So he was going to enter her, then. What, here on this sofa in this locked parlour? Somehow, it felt very exciting. She let him toss her silk knickers aside and adjusted herself as he unbuttoned his tuxedo trousers and pulled out his white dress shirt. His cock was out before Queenie knew what was happening, and he clutched it in his hand and bent back down, aiming it between her legs. She gasped and squirmed as he drove into her, and she gripped at whatever parts of the sofa she could hold for purchase. She stared right at him as he knelt and began to pump into her, and he surprised her by letting his eyes roll back and looking entirely uncontrolled for a moment.

"Queenie."

He said her name desperately, like a drowning man gasping for air, and it shocked Queenie to hear his tone. He began to thrust more quickly, grasping at her breasts, at her waist, and then he rubbed her arms and held her face and said her name again.

"Queenie."

Faster and harder he pushed into her, filling her and then leaving her empty, until finally he jammed himself into her and his face twisted hard. He tipped his head back and groaned more loudly than she would have anticipated, and she suddenly felt fluid leaking out between their bodies, getting all over the No-Majs' velvet sofa.

Within a few minutes, he'd cleaned them both up and she was pulling on her knickers, but he'd gone quiet. He carefully adjusted his shirt and trousers where he stood, and he mumbled,

"Dance with that boy. Klaus Reiner. He's got a terrible crush on you; throw him a bone."

Queenie felt abject confusion then, but she nodded. "Yes, sir."

She rose, shaking, and watched him unlock the door after he'd Scoured the whole room. He cleared his throat and stood by the door, and he stared at Queenie in the moonlight as he ordered her,

"I want you to sleep in my bed tonight at Nurmengard, Queenie. Now go, alone, back into that ballroom, and dance with that boy."

He lifted Queenie's hand and kissed her knuckles, opening the door and waving her through. She nodded and walked by him, hurrying down the corridor back toward the ballroom, feeling confused and sore and satisfied all at once.

 **Author's Note: Raise your hand if you think Grindelwald's falling hard and fast for Queenie for realsies! And can I just say that Grindelwald speeches are way too much fun to write. I just want to say again how appreciative I am of my readers' patience. I was discharged from the hospital today, so I should be able to write on a more regular schedule now. Thank you so very much for dealing with my absence.**


	12. You Are Mine

She giggled.

She stared up at Klaus Reiner with Grindelwald's come still between her legs, and she giggled. She nodded and laughed at something Reiner said, and Grindelwald scowled. His heart drummed in his chest. He'd sent her off to dance with the boy because he'd realised in the parlour that things were spiraling out of control. He was losing himself to her. So he'd told her to dance with someone else, and he'd socialise with followers. But now she was dancing with the young German boy, and he was talking animatedly to her, and she was _giggling._ Beautifully. Grindelwald felt queasy where he stood near a wall sconce.

" _Monsieur?_ "

"Vinda." He turned his face to see her looking stronger and prettier than she'd looked recently. Her burns were healing nicely. He nodded down to her and told her, "The party is quite nice. Well done, then."

"I aim to please," Vinda said seriously. "Is there anything else I can do for you, _Monsieur?_ "

"As a matter of fact, there is," Grindelwald nodded. He glanced around the room at the revelers and then back down at Vinda. "I need a new skull. My Seeing-Skull was destroyed in Paris by Leta Lestrange, and I mean to replace it. Procure for me a new skull so I can make a new device."

"Your will be done," Vinda confirmed. "Tomorrow you will have a fresh, clean skull, _Monsieur._ I will see to it at once."

"Carrow looks to have found herself a good dance partner in Abernathy," Grindelwald smirked, and he held out his hand. "Dance with me, Vinda."

Vinda demurely took Grindelwald's hand and let him lead her out to the dance floor, but she kept her distance in the stance. They moved tightly, neatly, and Grindelwald stared over Vinda's shoulder at Queenie, who was telling her own story full of laughter now to Klaus Reiner. His stomach turned, and Vinda noted,

"She does not realise the power of her own beauty, I don't think."

Grindelwald frowned down at Vinda. "What do you mean?"

Vinda stared up at Grindelwald, seeming a little sad, and she scoffed quietly. "She does not see the power she wields. She is still so oblivious to the strength of her… I am not blind."

"Am I that obvious?" Grindelwald whispered, and he pinched his lips as Vinda sighed.

"I can scarcely blame you, _Monsieur._ "

He glared over Vinda's shoulder as Queenie tossed her golden curls and laughed like a madwoman. He scowled, and as the song ended, he said distractedly,

"Thank you for the dance, Vinda. You should dance with Larsen. He itches for you."

"I've been dancing with him all night," Vinda said, "but I'll dance with him again. Thank you, _Monsieur._ You will have your skull tomorrow."

She walked off with quick steps, and Grindelwald watched in horror as Queenie walked off toward the Champagne table with Klaus Reiner. They were still talking, still laughing, and she let him hand her a flute of Champagne and touch the glasses together. She grinned broadly - beautifully - and Grindelwald felt his anger and jealousy boil up inside of him like a volcano about to erupt. He stalked briskly across the marble floor, arms swinging beside him, and he made a beeline for where Queenie stood with Klaus Reiner. He walked right up to her, plucked her Champagne out of her hand, set it on the table, and commanded,

"Come with me."

"Oh! Of course, sir. Excuse me, Mr Reiner," said Queenie helplessly. Grindelwald took Queenie's elbow in his hand and guided her away from the Champagne table without sparing a glance to Klaus Reiner. He took her to a quieter spot, and then he released her arm and hissed angrily,

"All right; enough!"

Queenie's eyes went round. "You're angry with me."

He scoffed loudly, his breath coming hard and fast through his nostrils and his heard beating a war tattoo in beneath his tuxedo robes. He whispered,

"I told you to dance with that boy, not to start undressing while you giggled like a fool for him."

Queenie frowned in confusion and shook her head. "I'm so sorry. I was just trying to be friendly. I was just trying to do what you said."

Grindelwald shut his eyes and shook his head. "I want you to go back to Nurmengard and wait for me in my quarters, Queenie."

"I can't do that," she said, and he remembered that his quarters were the only locked ones in the castle. He huffed and threw his hands up.

"Your quarters, then."

"Yes, sir." Queenie turned and started to walk away. He reached for her wrist, and she whirled around. She stared up at him, obviously frightened, and he took her face in his hands. It took everything he hand not to kiss her on the mouth right there in front of everyone. Instead he cradled her cheeks and touched his lips to her forehead, and he murmured,

"Go."

* * *

Queenie waited on the edge of her bed, wearing a black satin nightgown and her plum-coloured velvet dressing-gown. She folded her hands on her lap and stared at the wall. She had obviously made him angry. But what could she have done differently? He'd taken her into a parlour for sex and then ordered her to dance with Klaus Reiner. She'd done just that. What could she have done differently?

"Queenie."

She rose from her bed and walked out of her bedroom into the sitting room to find Grindelwald standing in there in his tuxedo robes, looking tired.

"You are mine," he said very simply, and she nodded.

"Of course I am," she affirmed, but he he shook his head.

"I am not speaking about you being a servant, nor about what I did to you on that sofa, Queenie. I… I brought you into that party on my arm for a reason. You are _mine_ , and I do not want you dancing with anyone else anymore."

Queenie wanted to remind him that he'd ordered her to dance with Klaus Reiner, but instead she just stared at his uneven eyes and studied them in the dim light of her wall sconces. She murmured quietly,

"I'd burn a thousand times for you."

"I'd prefer if you never burned at all," he replied, and he stepped up to her, sliding his arms around her. "I'm going to kiss you until your lips bruise."

Queenie's breath quivered between her lips. "Okay," she whispered, and he began to back her up toward her bedroom.

"I'm going to take your body until you're shaking and weak," he vowed, and Queenie flushed warm with want. She nodded as he tightened his grip on her.

"Okay."

He bent and touched his lips to hers and whispered,

"You are mine."

* * *

Two days later, Grindelwald had finished work on his Seeing Skull, and he proudly studied the hookah mechanism and the inscription - For the Greater Good - that he'd put into his device. He heard laughter from outside, and he turned his office chair to see two small female figures out in the snow, using their wands to whip snowballs at each other as they laughed. Vinda and Queenie. He smirked a little and turned back to his Skull. He cradled it in his right hand and shut his eyes, sucking in hard from the mouthpiece. He blew the smoke that filled his lungs in a mighty blow, and it filled his office. He tipped his head back and watched the vision that materialised in the air.

' _Nagini, is that you?'_

' _Credence. Everyone is looking for you. Everyone.' Nagini cradled Credence, who seemed injured or ill and was huddled in an attic or squalid flat somewhere._

' _I failed. I wasn't ready. I got hurt.' Credence mumbled. 'I just want to go back to him. To Grindelwald. But I'm ashamed.'_

' _Don't go back to him,' Nagini pleaded, shaking her head. 'We'll keep you safe.'_

' _We,' Credence scoffed. 'You don't even know who I am.'_

The vision dissolved, and Grindelwald set down his Skull on his desk. He sat there in silence for a long moment, listening to the sound of laughter from outside, and after a long while, he summoned Larsen.

"Put together a team," he ordered Larsen. "A team to go to England. I can't go, and neither can Queenie; the Aurors will capture us at once. But I need this team to find Credence Barebone. Aurelius Dumbledore. He is in grave danger."

"Danger?" asked Larsen, and Grindelwald nodded.

"If the boy is left alone to try and kill Dumbledore himself, he will become injured and may turn to the opposition. I need him found before he attempts anything. Find him, tell him I want nothing but his safety and his friendship, and see if you can bring him back to me."

"Yes, sir. We will find him." Larsen nodded crisply, but he hesitated. Grindelwald raised his eyebrows.

"Is there something else?"

Larsen licked his lip and said, "In the interest of… Magical purity, sir… I have intentions of asking… I would like your blessing, of course, but…"

"You mean to ask Vinda to marry you," Grindelwald said with a small smile, and Larsen nodded nervously. Grindelwald drummed his fingers on his desk.

"I think they're just coming in from hucking snow at one another," he said. "You have my blessing, of course. There is nothing more wondrous than two of my soldiers joining together in a union of Magic. Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir. We will find the boy," Larsen vowed.

"When you go see Vinda," Grindelwald said to Larsen, "send Queenie Goldstein in here, will you? Thank you. Dismissed."

Larsen left the office, and a few moments later, there was a knock on the office door. Grindelwald wandlessly opened the door, and Queenie came in in her winter gear, red cheeked and pink nosed and looking happy as a clam as she declared,

"Vinda and I had a snowball fight. I'm not sure who won."

"I need to show you something," said Grindelwald, and Queenie's grin vanished. She pulled off her mittens as Grindelwald showed her the vision of Credence and Nagini using the Skull. Queenie seemed shocked by what she'd seen, and she stood opposite his desk and muttered,

"He still isn't sure about his decisions. Even after learning his real identity."

"I'm sending a team after him," Grindelwald informed her, "to try and protect him from getting hurt and to bring him back to me."

Queenie nodded. "What can I do?"

"You and I wait," he said. "There is nothing to do but wait. We are too high-profile to chase him ourselves in England. I may hold a rally in Vienna while they're searching for him - another amphitheatre speech. But really, we just wait. So will you keep me company, Queenie, whilst I anxiously await news of my acolyte? Hmm?"

She curled up half her lip, looking awfully pretty with her woolen hat perched on her curls. She nodded and walked around his desk.

"Yes. Of course."

"Larsen is proposing to Vinda," he told her, and Queenie grinned broadly.

"Oh. Oh, that makes me happy."

"Yes, well. I like to see you happy." Grindelwald felt a strange feeling in his stomach, felt an odd flutter in his chest, and he shut his eyes as he demanded, "If the No-Maj Jacob were available to you today… if you could marry him legally in London and -"

"What?"

He opened his eyes and pinched his lips, and Queenie shook her head and slid her hands onto Grindelwald's head. She scratched at his scalp a little, just the way he liked. She'd done it this morning in bed, and it had aroused him upon waking to the point that he'd wound up cradling her against him and pumping into her. He stared up at her, and she informed him,

"Jacob made his choice, and I made mine. You are my choice. I chose your flames. I chose… _you_."

Grindelwald reached for Queenie's hand and pulled it from his head, squeezing at her fingers and nodding.

"And now you are mine."

 **Author's Note: Okay, so he's definitely in deep. And for those who wanted better for Vinda, put your hand up if you're glad to see her finally get some happiness! Haha. Now, will his team find Credence? And what do Queenie and Grindelwald do while they… just wait? Thanks as always for reading and PLEASE REVIEW if you get a moment!**


	13. Mistakes

She didn't mean to read his mind.

Genuinely, she didn't mean to do it. She awoke in his bed, curled up beside him, and she felt the press of his thoughts, swirling in four different languages, pushing against her head. Queenie shut her eyes and tried to ignore what he was thinking in his sleep, but then a vivid dream burst forth and played out like one of the No-Maj silent films that Jacob had taken her to see.

' _Gellert.'_

 _A handsome young wizard threaded his arms around the pale, blond Gellert Grindelwald, who put his hands on the boy's waist and murmured softly,_

' _Albus.'_

 _They kissed then, a long kiss that seemed deep and true, seemed to go on forever until the boy called Albus worked his fingers into Gellert's hair and groaned softly._

Queenie gasped as the dream dissolved in Grindelwald's mind. His eyes slowly blinked open, and she could tell the instant that he turned his face toward her that he knew. He knew she'd watched him dream. She whispered frantically,

"I didn't mean to. It was pushing against my mind."

He sighed, and she felt his Occlumency shields jam up against her. He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear, and he said rather wistfully,

"That was a very long time ago."

"You seemed very passionate with him," Queenie noted, but Grindelwald shook his head and insisted,

"Things were very one-sided between Albus and me."

Queenie picked at the blanket and sighed, her mind swirling with questions. She finally plucked up the courage to ask,

"What is it like? Two guys together?"

"Very different from two witches together," he smirked, and Queenie wanted to sock him with a pillow. Instead she giggled and asked more seriously,

"Which do you like better, though? Guys or girls?"

"Well, they're very different. It's impossible to compare the experiences." Grindelwald put his hands behind his head, making his arms look lean and sinewy, and Queenie gulped. Grindelwald seemed a bit cocky then as he declared, "Humans come in all sorts of flavours, Queenie. I like yours best of all."

She blushed at that and shook her head a little, sitting up straighter and staring down at where he lay.

"After everything you've done, I must be very dull."

"On the contrary, my dear," he said, dragging his knuckles over her arm. "You are positively delicious."

He just touched her for a moment, making her shiver, and for a while she considered that perhaps all the attention he'd been giving her was just because he thought she was pretty. Lots of boys had thought she was pretty in her life. Maybe this wasn't any different. But then he murmured, staring at his own fingers,

"Even that kiss with Albus was just… means to an end. Touching people, sex, Queenie, has always been means to an end. Satisfaction. Payoff. But I was not lying when I let you into my mind and showed you my truth. The truth about you. About this."

 _It has never been anything like this,_ his thoughts had projected at her, and now Queenie's eyes burned as she stared at his serious face. He flicked his eyes up to her - his pale eye and his dark one - and he mumbled aloud,

"It has never been anything like this."

"Oh." Queenie slithered to lie down beside him, worming her way beneath the blankets, and she faced him as she pulled the blanket up around them. She stared at his face then, and she marveled,

"Soon enough you're going to be in charge of a whole new world."

"I want you with me, Queenie." Grindelwald reached for her face. "Not just as my Legilimens. Not just as a servant or a soldier. You understand, don't you?"

Queenie rolled until she was on top of him, and he grunted as she lined up their naked bodies. She wasn't that wet, so she reached between them with fingers she'd licked, and she slicked herself up. She guided his half-hard cock into her body and started to rock, feeling him firm up inside of her as she moved.

"I'll always be with you from now on," she promised him, and he tipped his head back and let his mouth fall open. He reached up and held her breast firmly in one hand and clutched her hip in the other, guiding her movements as she flushed soaking wet. After a while of rocking, a small detonation took place within her - subtle and unremarkable, just enough to make her clench a little and moan softly. When he came, it seemed equally easy and almost gentle, and suddenly Queenie realised they'd forgotten a contraceptive charm. She panicked as she climbed off of him, and she whispered frantically,

"I'm gonna get pregnant!"

"I'll brew you up a potion." His voice was lazy, and he sounded tired and unaffected. But Queenie touched at her lower abdomen and whimpered quietly. How stupid could she be? Grindelwald reached for her fingers and met her eyes.

"I'll brew you up a potion," he said again, "that will take care of today and the next few months. It's not a concern, Queenie. I'll always look after you, hmm?"

She nodded quickly, feeling his seed leak out between her legs and get all over his sheets, and when she shut her eyes, all she could see was Grindelwald kissing Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

Grindelwald rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and hummed a little as he lit a fire beneath his cauldron. He wandlessly flicked open the _Potions for Witches_ book he'd brought in from the library until he reached the Long-Term Contraceptive Potion page. He thought about Credence, about the crew that had left early this morning for England to hunt him down. Was Credence with Nagini even now? Had he already tried to kill Dumbledore? Was Grindelwald too late? Or would Grindelwald's little army manage to intercept the boy and bring him back to Austria?

It would do him no good to contemplate it now, he thought distantly. He'd already had his vision with his Skull. He'd seen all he could see. He'd sent off a group of twenty. Nothing more could be done. And Queenie needed this potion; they'd made a mistake this morning. He licked his lip and contemplated something else - their respective ages. Age had never mattered to him in being physical with another. Vinda was around thirty, he reckoned, and he was forty-four. But Queenie had told him that she was twenty-three, and for some reason that seemed awfully young. Perhaps it was just the youthful demeanour, her bubbly personality, contrasting so vigorously with Grindelwald's own carriage.

He poured sixty millilitres of Standard Potioning Water into his cauldron and brought it to a boil, and then there was a knock on the door of the parlour in which he'd set up his Potioning work. He looked up to see Queenie walking in, looking shy and perhaps even ashamed in a black wool dress.

"I'm sorry you have to do this," she said.

"Easier than casting a spell every time," he said dismissively, using tweezers to pick up dried spiders' eyes and drop them into the cauldron. She watched as he drizzled in kappa blood and stirred with his stirring stick, and then he stood back and folded his arms over his chest. "That needs four minutes."

"You were good at Potions at school?" Queenie asked curiously, and Grindelwald scoffed.

"I was, until I was sixteen and I ran some… experiments… that my Durmstrang instructors didn't like very well. I was expelled."

"You got expelled?" Queenie raised her eyebrows, and Grindelwald dropped a few fairy wings into her potion. He stared at Queenie and said,

"People have a tendency to become frightened of those whose abilities they can't understand, and they often react poorly."

"Yeah, I can relate to that." Queenie sighed heavily. "I used to get into trouble at Ilvermorny all the time because of my Legilimency. So much so that I almost got expelled myself. There was this one time that this girl, she was in Horned Serpent House… I read her mind that she'd been sneaking into the boys' dormitories night after night. I told a teacher about it, and instead of her getting in trouble, I got in big trouble for reading minds. You're right. People don't react well to… to…"

"Gifts." Grindelwald finished, and Queenie nodded. She asked him,

"Were you upset when you got expelled?"

"No," Grindelwald said honestly. "It allowed me to begin my revolution sooner, to begin to gather momentum for the movement."

"Well, I'm glad you got to do that," said Queenie, and he smirked as he dropped in three occamy scales and stirred, then magically cooled the potion and began ladling it into blue glass vials.

"This is going to taste sour," he warned her, but Queenie just asked,

"Will it work to fix what I did this morning?"

"Yes," he reassured her, "and it will protect you for a few months. Drink the entire thing. Here you are." He handed over the vial, and Queenie knocked it back, sputtering at the sour taste. She put her fist to her mouth and looked like she'd be sick, but as Grindelwald began Scouring his cauldron and Banishing his supplies, she coughed out,

"Thank you very much, sir."

"It's no problem," he said seriously, and it wasn't. For some reason, helping her felt…

Good.

He froze at that, at the thought that he _liked_ to take care of her. He stared at her as she Vanished the empty vial and smiled weakly at him, and he sighed. She was his. He wanted her with him as he climbed. And he liked to help her. What did all of that mean?

Suddenly he had the urge to gift her with something, to give her presents, to put pretty things on her. Suddenly he had a vision of playing his mandolin for her, slow songs in German before a fire as it snowed outside. Suddenly he wanted to take her quarters away and move her into his rooms permanently. He craved her. He wanted her, and not just for her flesh. She was his. Rather deeply.

"Have you forgotten the date?" he asked her then, and Queenie blinked a few times as she noted softly,

"It's the twenty-third, sir. The twenty-third of December."

"Don't you think," he said almost playfully, "that this castle needs a Christmas tree? Hmm? Come."

 **Author's Note: Fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff. Sorry about all that fluff. But, hey, at least we got to hear Grindelwald talk about playing for both teams a little bit, huh? I do realize that this is NOT a popular ship, and I am therefore immensely grateful for any and all readership on this story. I am even more grateful for any and all feedback, so if you can spare a moment to review, I'll love you forever. :) Thanks so much.**


	14. Geliebte

"Come on! We have to find the perfect tree!"

She giggled like mad as she trudged through the snow, through the little forest in the flat bit outside the castle where he'd first kissed her for real. Her black furry boots were caked with glittery white snow, and she wore warm leggings and her long fur-lined black coat with mittens and a wool hat as she whirled around and laughed. Heavy snowflakes fell lazily from the sky, and Queenie stuck out her tongue and caught them.

Grindelwald stopped walking. He'd never seen anything like this - this blissful child, this _happiness_ before him. His eyes actually burned a little, and he pulled his leather overcoat more tightly about him as he gulped. She made his stomach quiver, being so delightful as she was. Her golden curls caught snowflakes and held them, and when she grinned broadly at him, she was so beautiful that his breath caught. Her nose was pink from the chill, and she sniffled a little as she said joyfully,

"It can be nice and big and go in that two-storey drawing room, can't it? Can we take a big one? Put glowing baubles all over it?"

"Whatever you want," he said softly, and she seemed to sense that he'd gone serious. Her smile faded a little, and as Grindelwald pulled out the Elder Wand, she began to walk among the trees, studying them, examining them.

"This one's stumpy," she said, trudging by a roundish-looking pine. "This one's too skinny."

Grindelwald adjusted his hold on the Elder Wand in his leather-gloved hand, and he followed her, considering for the briefest moment the idea of Obliviating her of all the memories they'd made together. The cottage. Dancing. Nights in his bed. He could take it all away from her and turn her into an obedient, blank servant. But he didn't want that. He wanted Queenie. This Queenie. _His_ Queenie.

"Oh. This one." She turned and faced a full, beautiful pine tree whose branches had been dusted with snow, and she clapped her mittened hands together. "This one."

He came to stand beside her, and he turned his face down to her. He opened his mouth to speak, feeling the need to tell her something. It was a powerful urge within him, the sensation that he needed to reveal something to her. She looked up at him, wide-eyed and gorgeous, and she smiled warmly.

"This tree is perfect," she told him, and he shut his mouth and nodded.

" _Diffindo._ " He sliced through the trunk of the tree and moved out of the way as it came tipping down. Then he Levitated it all the way back to the castle. Inside, they set it up with a Preserving Charm and cleared the snow off of it, and then Queenie set to decorating it whilst Grindelwald stood back and watched. She enchanted it to twinkle with little glimmering lights, to shine with Conjured glass bulbs in shades of silver and grey, to be strung with silver beads, and she put a glittering silver star on the top. When at last it was done, she grinned and laughed contentedly, clapping her hands, and she tucked her wand away.

"This is the most beautiful Christmas tree I've ever seen," she declared. "Teenie and I used to string popcorn and dried cranberries before we could legally do magic, and we'd put that on our little pathetic tree, but this is so much more beautiful."

She seemed sad all of a sudden, talking about her sister, and Grindelwald stared at the beautiful tree as he promised her,

"Someday she'll see, Queenie. Someday she will join us. She will be with you again."

"You think so?" Queenie's eyes had rimmed with tears when he looked over to her. He stepped up to her and took her face in his hands, and he promised her,

"I know it. I know it is true. You and your sister will be reunited in glory. Today we celebrate your good sense and your loyalty to the future. Hmm?"

"Yeah." Queenie covered his hands with his, and she blinked quickly. "How about I make us some lamb stew? Warm us right up, okay?"

He smirked a little and nodded. "I'd never turn down your cooking."

* * *

"You, my dear, are going to make me fat." Grindelwald crossed his leather boots on the chunky pine table before him and finished spooning her delicious stew into his mouth. He dragged his spoon around, trying to get the last of the broth. There was hardly anyone else in the castle right now; in fact, everyone else had gone to England or Vienna on missions and it was only Grindelwald, Queenie, and the House-Elf. So no one else got to partake in her ridiculously good cooking. Too bad for them.

"You won't get fat off one bowl of stew." Queenie laughed a little and Banished their empty crockery to the kitchens, snuggling up beside him on the comfortable sofa. A fire raged in the flagstone fireplace, and as they stared at the Christmas tree, Grindelwald had rather a wild idea. It had occurred to him when he'd been brewing her potion earlier, and now he aimed the Elder Wand behind him and muttered,

" _Accio_ Mandolin."

His instrument came whooshing down from his quarters, and he caught it out of the air, starting to tune it up. Queenie sat up and stared at him in confusion.

"I had no idea you were a musician," she said, and he quirked up a half smile as he reclined and tucked the mandolin against his chest and stomach.

"Very amateur," he assured her. "There are wizarding songs from around these parts. Would you like to hear a few of them?"

Queenie's cheeks went red, and she nodded, looking excited. She picked up her ceramic mug of peppermint hot cocoa - she'd made some for the both of them - and she sipped at it as she watched him begin to pluck out a slow waltz. Grindelwald's fingers felt clumsy; he hadn't played in months. He found the rhythm of the song's introduction and began to sing in a low, slow voice,

" _Ich singe vom Schnee in den Bergen, geliebte._ "

Queenie looked entranced. She watched Grindelwald's fingers moving on the strings of his mandolin, watched his lips as he sang, and he smiled a little at her.

" _Ich singe von kalter Luft, die in der Nacht weht._ "

She didn't seem to mind that she couldn't understand the lyrics. She was being brought under a spell with every passing word. She leaned in a little to him and reached for his hair, her fingernails scratching at his cropped side, and he sucked in air as he plucked the strings and sang,

" _Was kümmert mich? Ich bin hier mit dir."_

Her hand slid over his head and made his breath shake as he sang, and his left hand faltered in fingering the notes for a brief moment. He corrected himself and repeated,

" _Was kümmert mich? Ich bin hier mit dir._ "

The song came to a conclusion, and the very instant that he had plucked out the last resonating note, Queenie had pulled herself closer and was kissing him. She had never been this bold, he thought. She had never taken the initiative to press her lips against his like this so wantonly, but he _liked_ it. He set his mandolin aside and kissed her back, hard, taking her cocoa away and wandlessly Banishing it to the table. When at last she pulled her face from his, he proposed,

"Let's play a game."

"A… a game?" Queenie seemed breathless and glassy-eyed, but she sat back on the sofa and cleared her throat. "Promise me you'll play me more music afterward?"

"I promise." He glanced down at his mandolin and rolled his right shoulder. "The game is called _Never Have I Ever._ I'll say something I've never done, and if you have done it, then you must… then you must kiss me."  
She giggled. "That's not a punishment."

"I am not trying to punish you," he said seriously, and Queenie's face stilled. She stared right at him and nodded.

"Okay. Let's play."

He sighed. "Never have I ever read the mind of another person."

"Well, that isn't fair!" she complained. "You can't do it."

"Hmm. How very gifted you are," he noted, and she seemed to understand then. She nodded and moved closer to him, and she cupped his jaw in her hand. She kissed him gently, carefully, and then pulled back and whispered,

"Never have I ever killed anybody."

"Nor shall you." He kissed her forehead, cleanly, and he touched her hair, twining his fingers through her curls. "Never have I ever been in love with someone who could not appreciate me."

Her eyes welled heavily then, and she stared. Jacob. He was talking about Jacob. The No-Maj who had called Queenie crazy more than once, who had refused to marry her, who had been more than happy to live under the yoke of Rappaport's Law. Queenie glared a little at Grindelwald and argued in a whisper,

"He couldn't understand."

"He couldn't appreciate you," Grindelwald said firmly. "You need to be with someone who appreciates your gifts and who has a vision for a world where you can live freely in the manner you wish."

"That would be you," she said with a weak smile. "I'm with you. Through flame over and over for you."

"No. Queenie. I…" Grindelwald felt an odd tugging at his stomach, a strange pull at his chest, and he impulsively reached for his cocoa and swigged at it, letting it scorch his throat a little. He shut his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose, and he felt Queenie's hand between his shoulder blades.

"Have I said something wrong?" she asked, but he turned his face to her and stared. He studied her eyes, her lips, her hair, and then he felt it. It was more powerful than any vision he'd ever beheld, more sure, more steady. It was unmistakable; it was powerful. And so there was no force in all the world that would have been able to stop him then from speaking.

"I am in love with you," he said, and the words hung in the quiet room with the weight of a thousand suns. Queenie's mouth dropped open, and a solitary tear boiled over an eye and trailed down her cheek, and she whispered,

"I'm in love with you, too."

She tasted like peppermint, and it wasn't from the cocoa. He held her close and kissed her until they couldn't breathe, until their lips were sore, and when at very long last he broke away from kissing her, still cradling her close, she whispered,

"You promised you'd play me more music. Sir."

He nodded, licked his lip as he pulled back, and reached for his mandolin.

 **Author's Note: WHEW THERE HAS BEEN AN OVERDOSE OF FLUFF. I Promise, Promise, Promise that Real Live Actual Plot is to resume in the next chapter - as in, we will see a trip to England and may see some combination of Tina, Jacob, Theseus, Newt, Nagini, and Credence! I hope I haven't given you all cavities with all this fluffy nonsense. Thank you all so very much for reading, and please do review (!) if you get a moment. Thank you!**


	15. Gone

Queenie hummed as she shampooed her hair. She used the small bucket to rinse her hair with bath water and rubbed oil into her curls, and then she heard a voice from the doorway.

"Queenie."

She gasped and sat up, splashing the water a little as Grindelwald came striding into the bathroom fully dressed. He was holding his skull-hookah, and Queenie frowned. He pulled up the pipe to his mouth, rolled his eyes back, and inhaled deeply. Then he blew out the smoke in the bathroom, and Queenie watched as his prophecy played out.

 _Queenie sat at a round table in a dark office. At the table were Tina, Newt, Theseus Scamander, and Jacob._

" _Where is Credence now?" asked Tina, and Queenie said seriously,_

" _You're too late. When you captured me, you missed your chance to get both of them, and they're gone now."_

" _Gone. Gone where?" Tina demanded, but Queenie shook her head and promised,_

" _He'll be back for me."_

" _Sweetheart," said Jacob, sounding heartbroken, "He's trickin' you. He's playin' you like a fiddle. Can't you see?"_

" _I can see better than you can, Jacob," Queenie said, folding her hands on the table before her. "Go ahead and throw me into Azkaban. See how long it lasts."_

The vision dissolved, and Queenie's heart raced. She gulped. She pulled herself out of the bath, and Grindelwald handed her a towel. She wrapped it around herself, and she murmured,

"You need me to put myself in a position where the Aurors' attention is all on me. To be a diversion. So Credence will come to you and come back here."

"Then I will rescue you. I promise it." Grindelwald gripped his skull tightly. "I love you. You know it is true; I will never abandon you."

Queenie felt fear go through her at the idea of winding up in Azkaban Prison, but she shut her eyes and promised him,

"I'd burn a thousand times for you. I'm yours. I'll serve you forever."

"I will never abandon you," he said again, and Queenie nodded, her breath shaking between her teeth as she whispered,

"I'll get dressed."

* * *

Queenie stood in the middle of Diagon Alley, proud as she pleased, wearing an elegant black wool coat over her dark green gown. It was Christmas Eve; most of the shops were closed. Everyone had already finished their shopping. The street was quiet and still. Queenie's black t-straps clacked on the cobblestones as she walked down the road and came to an ice cream parlour called Florean Fortescue's. It was closed, but she sat at a table outside and just stared at the few passers-by. A young mother with her toddler clutching her hand. An elderly wizard hobbling along. And then, out of nowhere… him. Theseus Scamander.

He froze, ten metres away, staring at Queenie, and she knew then that Grindelwald's prophecy was true, that it would come to pass. She shut her eyes and sighed and whispered,

"Through flame for you."

"Queenie Goldstein, do not move." Theseus aimed his wand at her and approached, and Queenie held her hands up in surrender.

Ten minutes later, she was being guided through the Ministry of Magic by ten Aurors, and there was a great murmur about her as people talked about _the American who defected to Grindelwald_ being spotted in Diagon Alley. Ten minutes after that, she was in a dark office, and there was a round table, and then the prophecy was coming true. Queenie sat at the round table with Theseus in silence for fifteen minutes until Tina walked into the room accompanied by Newt Scamander, trailed by Jacob Kowalski. Everyone sat, and Tina was the first to speak.

"What are you doing in London, Queenie?"

"Christmas shopping," Queenie lied dully, avoiding Tina's eyes. Tina swiped tears from her cheeks, seeming to have suddenly erupted into crying, and beside her, Newt shifted awkwardly and said,

"Queenie, that night in Paris, you made a choice. So did we. We made… we made the opposite from you. We chose to fight Grindelwald. We chose to ally ourselves with the Ministry and Dumbledore. Can you… could you come back, do you suppose? It isn't… it's not too late, you see, and -"

"Newt." Queenie raised her eyes to him and shook her head firmly, pinching her lips. "There is so much that you don't understand. So much. Please don't lecture me."

"There can only be right and wrong in all of this," said Theseus Scamander, "and Grindelwald represents all the wrong. Why did you go with him that night, Queenie?"

"I dunno; I'm probably too _crazy_ to answer that question." Queenie glared at Jacob, who looked very hurt at that, and she turned her eyes to Tina. "All that matters is the law, isn't it, even if the law is wrong and repressive and keeps us all living in fear and -"

"So you think you have found freedom with him? Freedom for yourself, and freedom to live the way you think wizards ought to live?" Theseus specified, and Queenie shrugged.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Oh, Queenie." Tina touched her forehead with shaking fingers. She sniffled and shook her head. "I never meant to come across as legalistic with you. I just didn't want you to go to jail. Can't you understand that I was just afraid for you and Jacob? Please come back. Please. Please. It isn't too late, like Newt said. It's never too late."

"Oh, yes it is." Queenie shut her eyes for a moment and scoffed. "Do you know where your favourite Obscurial is at the moment?"

"Credence?" Tina turned to Theseus and swiped more tears away. "Where is Credence now?"

"You're too late," Queenie smiled a little maliciously. "When you captured me, you missed your chance to get both of them, and they're gone now."

"Gone. Gone where?" Tina demanded, but Queenie shook her head and promised,

"He'll be back for me."

"Sweetheart," said Jacob, sounding heartbroken, "He's trickin' you. He's playin' you like a fiddle. Can't you see?"

"I can see better than you can, Jacob," Queenie said, folding her hands on the table before her. "Go ahead and throw me into Azkaban. See how long it lasts."

"We are not throwing you into Azkaban," Tina sighed, but Theseus Scamander pointed out,

"She is an enemy of MACUSA and the British Ministry and has already been broken out of custody once by Grindelwald. We need to get her to Azkaban as quickly as possible to avoid -"

"We are _not_ putting my _sister_ into _Azkaban!_ " shrieked Tina, suddenly unhinged, and Theseus let out a long, deep sigh.

"My hands are tied, Tina."

"What crime has she committed?" asked Jacob desperately, and Newt rattled off,

"Aiding and abetting a known murderer, escaping Ministry custody in the past, going to -"

"Newt!" barked Jacob. He stared at Queenie and asked the others, "What reason would you have to put her in prison right now instead of just… letting her go?"

"Letting her go?" Theseus asked in disbelief. "If we _let her go_ , she will vanish back into the clutches of Gellert Grindelwald."

"Yeah, well, I'd rather my sweetheart make a really bad choice than be put into a prison cell." Jacob's eyes watered, and Tina seconded,

"I'd rather my sister be incredibly stupid than be thrown into Azkaban. Let her go, Theseus. Let her… let her go."

Theseus turned to his brother, and Newt stared at the table as he dragged the tip of his finger over the table before him and mumbled awkwardly,

"Let her go, Theseus."

"What none of you realise," Queenie said, reaching for the pendant around her neck that Grindelwald had given her before she'd gone to Diagon Alley, "is that I was never gonna go to Azkaban, and I don't need your permission to leave. But I love you all, and I always will. Jacob. Jacob, look at me."

Jacob had tears streaming down his face as he stared at Queenie, and she nodded as she smiled a little at him and told him,

"Good luck with your bakery, sweetheart. Find somebody who makes you real happy, okay? Teenie."

She turned to her sister, and Tina seemed to be hyperventilating a little as her sister met her eyes. Queenie said to Tina,

"One day you'll see, and hear, and you and I will be sisters just like old times. I love you, sis. I do. So much. Goodbye."

And with that, she squeezed the pendant tightly, and she Disapparated straight out of the Ministry meeting room, bypassing the Ministry wards, coming to in the sitting room of the London safe house.

"Queenie."

Grindelwald was sitting on a divan with a cup of tea in his hands, and opposite him was Aurelius Dumbledore. The boy looked cold and hungry, and he was eating some warm brown bread. He stood when Queenie appeared, and she immediately peered into his mind.

She felt fear from him. Fear that he would be punished for leaving and trying to act on his own. Fear of who he was. Fear of his newfound power with a wand, power that he could not yet properly harness. She felt a desire to go back to Austria, a desire to learn to be a proper wizard, a desire to learn who his mother was, a desire to train under Grindelwald and become a real acolyte. She felt a strong and powerful need to belong, a need to accomplish. She turned her face toward Grindelwald and nodded at him, and then she murmured gently,

"Aurelius. How good to see you safe. We were so worried."

"I shouldn't have left." He shifted on his feet. "I want to train properly, to do this right."

"I know you do," Queenie said meaningfully, flicking her eyes to Grindelwald. "And I know you want to be a part of this movement, just like I am."

"Mmm-hmm." The boy took another bite of bread and set his plate down. He chewed and swallowed, and Grindelwald suggested,

"Why don't we all go back to Nurmengard? Hmm? It's Christmas Eve. Tomorrow we celebrate. Soon enough there will be speeches to give. There will be training to be had, Aurelius. All that matters now is that you are safe, and that Queenie is safe. Let us all go home. Together. Come with me."

They approached him, each of them taking one of his hands, and with a blinding whirl, Grindelwald Disapparated from the safe house.

 **Author's Note: Poor Jacob and Tina! But Queenie is in 100% with Grindelwald at this point, huh? So he had Credence/Aurelius back. And he's going to host a rally in Vienna. And it's almost Christmas Day. Gifts? Lots coming up! Woo hoo! Thanks for reading. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	16. Noel

"The last time you aimed your wand in this direction, you blew up half the mountain," Grindelwald said to Credence. The boy adjusted his grip around his wand and nodded. Grindelwald said, "This time, I want you to isolate one tree - just one - and incant the spell _Bombarda_. Aim your wand at one single tree, Aurelius."

Credence jutted out his new wand, the one Grindelwald had procured for him, and he stood on the edge of the balcony with his arm extended.

" _Bombarda!_ " he cried, and his spell shot forth from the end of his wand and blasted apart a large pine tree on the distant hill. Grindelwald rubbed at Credence's shoulder reassuringly and told him,

"Well done, my boy. You will continue to learn to focus. Your training continues tomorrow. But now, we celebrate, for it is Christmas. I reckon you've never had a proper Christmas celebration?"

"Mrs Barebone didn't allow for it." Credence lowered his wand and shook his head. "She said that kind of merriment was demonic."

"Ah. Well, you're not in her clutches anymore, are you? You are safe here, with us." Grindelwald massaged Credence's shoulder a bit more and said, "Let's go inside."

The castle's expansive dining room had been set up for a grand feast, and everyone was already waiting, Grindelwald knew. They'd all been seated with name cards, and he'd been certain to ensure that Queenie was placed right beside him. Now he and Credence walked inside and up past the beautiful Christmas tree Queenie had decorated, up the winding stairs and down the corridor to the sound of low murmuring voices.

The moment he walked into the dining room, everyone stood in silent respect. Credence found his place between Carrow and Abernathy and stood there, and Grindelwald took his place at the head of the table. He glanced to where Queenie stood, looking absolutely beautiful in a burgundy velvet dress, smiling peacefully at him. He picked up the glass of red wine that was sitting near his plate, and everyone else reached for their glasses.

"My brothers and sisters," said Grindelwald warmly. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas," murmured everyone around the table. Grindelwald continued,

" _Joyeux Noël. Fröhliche Weihnachten!_ A merry, happy Christmas to you all. Today we are gathered on this most festive and joyful occasion to celebrate together as a family of magical souls. We are gathered to celebrate our future and the year ahead. We have much to do. Soon we will gather in Vienna with our friends in their hundreds, and we have much preparation to do for that to be a success. But I have faith in you all. And I am richly fortunate to have you all here with me today, on Christmas Day, to celebrate all that we have done together and all that we will continue to do… For the Greater Good!"

"For the Greater Good!" cried those around the table, and everyone drank. Grindelwald sat, and as the first course of asparagus with Hollandaise sauce appeared on the plates, he reached for Queenie's left hand. She seemed surprised that he would so brazenly cover her hand with his at the dinner table, but he met her eyes and said meaningfully,

"You look marvelous."

"Thank you." She seemed breathless, and Grindelwald kept his eyes on her as he knew that gazes around the table were watching him hold her hand. He finally released her and ate his chilled asparagus. As the plates cleared and gave way to roast beef with mashed potato, Grindelwald asked,

"Vinda, is that an engagement ring I spy?"

Vinda blushed and smirked at Larsen before she nodded and said, " _Oui, Monsieur._ "

"Congratulations." Grindelwald cut into his beef and then asked thoughtfully, "Under what authority will you be getting married?"

Larsen looked a little nervous, and he admitted,

"We thought perhaps we could sneak it by the Ministry in France, sir, but -"

"I will gladly perform the binding ceremony for you," Grindelwald said lightly, and Vinda gasped. The table went quiet, and Larsen stammered,

"Wh-What an honor. What an unspeakable honor, sir, to have you… my darling Vinda and I would…"

"It is no trouble at all. Let me know a convenient date for you," said Grindelwald smoothly, and Queenie squealed with delight, clapping her hands.

"Oh, Vinda!" she exclaimed. "You're going to be the most beautiful bride in the whole world! Ooh, you just have to let me help you pick something out with Madame Trousseau. Promise?"

Vinda smiled. "I promise, Queenie."

Suddenly Grindelwald imagined Queenie in a gown of white silk and satin, a flowing concoction that would move around her like water. He stared at her golden curls and imagined a white lace veil covering them, imagined her with scarlet lipstick contrasting the white. Then he blinked, and the terrifying vision was gone. He couldn't breathe, all of a sudden. Was that what he wanted? To _marry_ her? No. What a ludicrous, ridiculous idea. Him, a married man. He fucked wizards for sport and kissed witches to get loyalty. That was who Gellert Grindelwald was. Not some romantic pining away after the idea of Queenie Goldstein in a bridal gown.

"Do I have food on my face or something?"

She leaned toward him and whispered the question frantically, and he realised he'd been staring intently at her for quite some time. He shook his head and murmured simply,

"You look marvelous."

"You already said that," Queenie grinned, returning to her beef. Grindelwald cleared his throat and struggled to hold conversations throughout the rest of dinner.

People filtered out slowly after dessert, but Queenie was one of the first to go. She went with Vinda, the two of them chatting about Vinda's wedding gown, whilst Larsen spoke quietly to Credence, who looked shy and uncomfortable. Grindelwald sat at the head of the table and watched the small conversations finish up, and then after awhile he rose and bid everyone a Happy Christmas and a goodnight. He made his way down the corridor, toward the stairs, which he climbed quite slowly. At the top of the stairs, he paused and thought again about the awful idea that had come into his head.

Would it be so terrible, having her permanently his? Could the great Gellert Grindelwald have a bride? Would it endear him even more, make him seem more relatable, to be a married man?

 _No! Stop this absurd nonsense right this moment!_ he screamed in his head. He shut his eyes and thought of Albus. He thought of twining his fingers through Albus', holding their bloodstained palms together as they murmured spells to protect themselves from one another. He needed Albus dead now, but he couldn't do it himself. He needed his movement to grow. Queenie was going to play a role in all of that, but what would her role be beside him? He was tempted to go to his Seeing Skull and try for a vision, but he was afraid of what he might see. He didn't actually want to know. Right now, he just wanted her. He just wanted to hold her face and kiss her and whisper to her that she looked marvelous.

He walked down the corridor to her quarters and knocked. He didn't have to knock; her rooms were unlocked and he could walk right in if he wanted to. But he gave her the dignity of knocking. The door swung open, and Queenie answered in her plum-coloured dressing gown. She grinned broadly and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Hi." She stepped aside to let him come in, and she admitted, "I was kind of hoping you might come by to say goodnight. That was a very nice toast you gave."

"I have a gift for you," Grindelwald announced. "A Christmas gift."

"A Christmas gift!" she practically groaned. She whirled as she shut the door. "But I don't have one for you! How was I supposed to buy -"

"I didn't buy it; I made it. This morning." He smirked at her, and she put her hands on her narrow waist.

"Well, that's hardly fair; you're so skilled."

"No one said Christmas was fair." Grindelwald reached into his velvet trench coat and pulled out the small, silver-wrapped box he'd prepared for her. He passed it over, and as they slowly sat on her divan, she marveled,

"You wrapped it and everything." She began to pull at the paper, and when she reached the velvet box inside, he assured her,

"It's just a little trinket."

Queenie's cheeks pinked as she cracked open the box and gasped. She stared down at the platinum necklace he'd carefully Conjured for her - a sturdy chain with a diamond-encrusted pendant in the shape of the Deathly Hallows symbol. Queenie pulled the necklace out of the box and put it on, and she touched at the pendant on her collarbone.

"It's enchanted," Grindelwald told her. "I've put a charm on it, a careful Tracing Charm. If you're ever lost, I'll be able to find you through that necklace."

Her eyes welled heavily then, and she whispered, "Thank you."

"I will never abandon you, Queenie." Grindelwald met her eyes, and Queenie nodded.

"I love you."

In response to that, he took her face in his hands and leaned in, touching his lips very gently to hers. The kiss naturally deepened, and soon enough Grindelwald felt a serious longing for something even he had never done. He wanted to _taste_ her. He'd never put his mouth on a woman, not down there, because it had always seemed like a degrading thing to do, and he was in charge. But he wanted it right now. He wanted to taste her.

"Queenie." He ripped his mouth from hers and slid off of the divan, kneeling on the ground. Queenie gasped as he parted her legs and reached up into her dressing gown to pull her knickers out from under her short nightgown. She slithered out of them but demanded softly,

"What are you doing?"

"I promise you'll like it." He hoped that was true; he was made to understand that witches sincerely enjoyed this sort of thing. He wasn't quite sure why he was craving it right now, but he was, badly, and he licked up the inside of her thigh with a long, slow trail of his tongue. She gasped and gripped his shoulders through his trench coat. He felt oddly overdressed just now, but he couldn't be bothered to strip his clothes off. He pushed aside her dressing gown and groaned as his mouth reached the place between her legs.

Metal. She tasted like metal. Grindelwald pinned her hips to the divan, feeling himself go completely rigid in his trousers. She was sweet now that she was getting wet, he noticed. She tasted like dessert. He moaned against her, his voice buzzing onto her flesh, and his cock ached, straining against its fabric confines. Grindelwald dragged his tongue in flat strokes and then suckled on her clit, an activity which she seemed to thoroughly enjoy. She squeezed his shoulders harder than ever and arched her back up, moaning loudly.

"Yes," she hummed, her hands moving to his blond hair. "Yes, yes, yes. More of that, please."

Grindelwald used his tongue to form letters on her folds then, spelling out Q-U-E-E-N-I-E and smirking a little when she twisted and groaned above him in response. He sucked hard on her clit until she squealed.

"Oh, Merlin's Beard!"

"Queenie." He was going to come in his trousers just like he'd done in the cottage when she'd ridden him in this same dressing gown. He couldn't help it; everything exploded like the bomb he'd foreseen the Muggles detonating. His come leaked into his trousers in spurts as he sucked hard on licked and sucked, licked and sucked. He held fast onto Queenie's hips, and she cried out with what sounded like a blend of pain and bliss. His ears were still ringing and his vision was still blurred when he felt her walls snapping around his lips. He kissed the inside of her thigh and watched her body contract through her climax, listened to her moan through it, and finally he pulled back. There was a very long silence between the two of them in which they both just panted for a while, until at last Queenie mumbled,

"Oh, my goodness. Do you need…?"

"No; I found my satisfaction just fine," Grindelwald assured her. He reached into his trench coat and pulled out the Elder Wand, Siphoning and Scouring up the mess in his trousers and cleaning up his mouth. He picked up Queenie's knickers, which she put back on, and he helped her stand on rickety legs. He admired the glitter of the Deathly Hallows pendant around her neck, and he touched at it as he murmured,

"Happy Christmas, then, Queenie."

"Will you… would you maybe…" She seemed hesitant, but then she licked her lip and asked, "Will you stay the night?"

He curled up half his mouth and nodded. "You know, I think I will."

 **Author's Note: Whew! So we have a rally in Vienna and Vinda's wedding coming up, along with more Credence training. And will Queenie** _ **need**_ **that necklace? Hmmm…**

 **I notice that hundreds of people are reading each chapter of this story, but it's getting very few reviews. I hate to complain about reviews, but seeing as it is getting lots of readership, I would be extremely grateful if you might take a quick moment to let me know what you're thinking of the story. Thank you so very much.**


	17. Gellert

Queenie woke and pushed herself up onto her elbow, watching as Grindelwald slept peacefully on his back beside her. In his sleep, his thoughts swirled and pushed against her mind, and she tried to keep them out to no avail. She stroked gently at his chest, but he didn't wake. He squirmed a little and let out a low sound, but he was still asleep as a powerful, vivid dream thrust itself into Queenie's consciousness.

" _My boy," Grindelwald said softly to Aurelius Dumbledore, standing in the cottage up on the mountaintop, "You will do great things. Not just for me, and not just for yourself. You will do great things because you will become great."_

" _I feel weak still," Aurelius argued, but Grindelwald took the boy's face in his hands and whispered slickly,_

" _No. You are strong. You are powerful. I feel your power in my very veins, Aurelius. I feel your magic. I feel it now. Hmm?"_

 _Then he leaned in and kissed Aurelius gently, and Aurelius gasped. The boy's hands went to Grindelwald's waistcoat, and he eagerly kissed Grindelwald back. Grindelwald brushed his thumbs over the boy's cheeks and licked at his lip before deepening the kiss._

Suddenly Grindelwald's eyes sprang open, and he blinked a few times, and his Occlumency shields went up at once. Queenie felt tears streaming down her cheeks, and she shook her head wildly.

"Was that real?" she demanded shrilly, and Grindelwald slowly sat up. Queenie sat up with him, staring at him and swiping at her tears. "Was that a memory or a fantasy, you kissing him like that?"

Realisation seemed to come over Grindelwald, as if he hadn't known what she'd seen until that very moment. He nodded.

"Aurelius in the cottage."

"Yes, Aurelius in the cottage." Queenie panted, starting to hyperventilate a little, and she adjusted the neckline of her pale green slip. She pulled herself out of Grindelwald's bed and muttered, "It was real. I can tell."

He dragged his fingers over his ice blond hair from the bed and watched her as she began dressing in her emerald green wool dress. He mumbled quietly,

"Queenie, I kissed him to bring him more thoroughly under my wing. You must understand that physical contact, for me, is a tool. A form of manipulation, if you will. It is a means to an end, as I've told you. I felt no pleasure in kissing Aurelius; I did it because I needed him to feel trust and safety, and -"

"So last night, when you were pounding me into the sheets, was that just a tool of manipulation, too?" Queenie yanked on her dress, feeling her face go very hot, and Grindelwald cleared his throat as he finally pulled himself from his bed, wearing just his pyjama trousers.

"No," he said calmly. "It's different with you."

He approached Queenie, but she bent down and started pulling on her silk stockings, started putting on her t-strap shoes with shaking fingers, and she muttered,

"You're playing me like a fiddle."

Everything froze then. Those had been Jacob's words. Queenie rose slowly and stared at Grindelwald, who seemed suddenly angry. He took a step toward Queenie, forcing her to back up toward the wall. He took another step, and she backed up again. He put his hands on either side of her, bracing her in, and he shook his head.

"I will not equivocate," he said. "I use any means necessary to advance the goals and cause of my movement."

"Including cheating on me," Queenie sniffled, and Grindelwald tipped his head as he asked curiously,

"Cheating? Are we at that point, you and I?"

"You made it seem like we were," Queenie said rather sadly, and she studied his asymmetrical eyes, deciding they were very strange-looking. She huffed and begged him, "Let me go, please."

"Go where?" he snapped, and she glanced toward the door.

"To my quarters, to be alone." She shut her eyes, feeling sick as she remembered the dream, the way Aurelius had come alive under Grindelwald's touch and lips. She felt fresh tears rush to her eyes, and she whispered, "Please let me go."

He stood back, letting her pass, and she hurried out of his rooms. She hustled through the castle, passing a few people who definitely noticed the way she was crying. Queenie shoved her way into her own rooms and heaved herself up onto her bed, curling up and trying to erase from her mind what she'd seen in Grindelwald's thoughts. Being a Legilimens was a terrible curse, she thought. She wouldn't wish it on anybody. Seeing the fantasy dreams of someone you loved was not a desirable trait to carry; it was an awful burden.

"Queenie?"

She blinked. She must've fallen asleep, she realised, and she sat up at the sound of Vinda's voice in her sitting room. Vinda walked into the bedroom looking resplendent in dark plum, and she asked worriedly,

"Are you ill?"

"I… I'm not feeling so great," Queenie said honestly. She sat on the edge of the bed.

"I wanted to let you know that Madame Trousseau is coming tomorrow with some bridal gown samples," Vinda said demurely. "I was wondering if you would be good enough to help me look at them and select one that might work for me."

"Oh. Yeah, of course." Queenie forced a little smile. "I'd love that, Vinda. I'm just so… so happy for you."

But she dissolved into tears then, and Vinda slowly sat on the bed beside her as Queenie heaved and sobbed. Vinda put her hand between Queenie's shoulder blades, and Queenie was suddenly transported back to Paris, back to when Vinda had found her crying in the rain and had asked if she was all right, had brought her to Grindelwald. Queenie stared at Vinda and shook her head as she mumbled,

"I'm not the only one."

Vinda gave Queenie a very sad little smile and admitted, "Once, I thought I was in love with him. But he only gave me one kiss, and I could tell that, for him, it was hollow. Empty. He was only kissing me to bring me closer to him. To make me more loyal. He would never feel anything for me, or for anyone else. So I gave up on loving him, and I wound up falling in love with Larsen. But _you_ , Queenie. You are different. I see the way he looks at you. The way he touches you. You are different from the rest of us for him."

"He's still using his… his _tools_ to bring others in," Queenie spat bitterly. "Why, if he loved me…?"

"Because he must do anything and everything For the Greater Good," Vinda said comfortingly. She brushed her knuckles over the diamond and platinum pendant at Queenie's neck. "He gave you this for Christmas?"

"Yes." Queenie touched at the necklace, and Vinda tipped her head curiously.

"Has he told you yet?"

"Told me?" Queenie turned the pendant around and brushed her finger over the diamonds, and Vinda clarified,

"That he is in love with you."

Queenie gulped and nodded. Vinda smiled weakly and nodded.

"I do not suppose he has ever said those words to anyone else, including the people he's kissed out of strategy. You are different from the rest of us."

They sat in quiet for a long while then, until Queenie finally said to Vinda,

"I think you're the best friend I've ever had, Vinda."

"You'll help me tomorrow?" Vinda asked, "with my wedding gown?"

"Yes, of course." Queenie reached for Vinda's hand and squeezed. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

"Queenie?"

This time when she blinked her eyes open, she wasn't surprised about having been asleep. It was the middle of the night, after all, and Queenie had taken a long bath after group dinner and had seen herself to bed. But now she opened her eyes and saw Grindelwald in his black flannel pyjamas and a black silk dressing gown, sinking onto the edge of her bed, and she slowly sat up.

"Hello," he said quietly, and as she stared at his pale figure in the moonlight streaming in through the window, she answered hoarsely,

"Hello, sir."

"I'd like for you to use my name, please," he said rather crisply, and Queenie blinked a few times before whispering,

"Gellert."

He sucked in air and tipped his head at the sound of his given name coming from her, and he turned his face, his pale eye almost glowing in the moonlight. He chomped on his lip for a moment and then said one word.

"Cheating."

"I had a long talk with Vinda," Queenie said sorrowfully. "I understand that you'll do what you need to For the Greater Good, and -"

"No; you were right. It was cheating, because things are different now." He licked his lip and said seriously, "You and I are _together_ , Queenie, and with that comes an expectation of mutual exclusivity. Strategy will find another way."

Queenie's eyes watered. "I don't want to get in the way of what you're trying to accomplish, what you're going to do."

He reached for her hand and murmured,

"I have rather grandiose plans of all kinds, it is true. Some of them are my own. Plans for my own life. Plans for you. And I would never see you harmed or distressed, Queenie, so… there will be other methods of bringing people under my wing. Toward you, there will be exclusivity. It is a first in my life, I'll admit. Monogamy is a foreign notion to my brain and body, but…"

He raised his eyes to her and shook his head.

"It has never been like this with anyone else."

She nodded and squeezed his fingers. "I do love you, sir."

He huffed. "My name, Queenie."

She felt a flush go through her then as she nodded.

"I do love you, Gellert."

He leaned in then, threading his fingers into her hair, and he kissed her deeply.

 **Author's Note: Woo hoo! Managed to get a chapter up on Thanksgiving! Now I'm off to cook and celebrate. To my American readers, I hope you have a very happy Turkey Day with friends and family. I'm grateful for so much this year, including for your readership and feedback on this story! Happy Thanksgiving!**


	18. To Understand

"What do you think of this one?" asked Vinda, and when she turned around, Queenie struggled to keep a straight face. She shook her head a little and admitted,

"It's… it's a lot of lace. A _lot_ of lace."

"This style has been in vogue for a century," argued Madame Trousseau. Queenie pinched her lips and studied the frilly design that was poufing off of Vinda's slim body, making her look oddly voluminous. Queenie shrugged.

"In America, we wore clothes similar to the No-Majs because we needed to blend in. We couldn't wear proper robes or anything like European wizards, because the No-Majs would, you know…"

"Oppress you for being magical," Vinda nodded, and Queenie shrugged again as she said lightly,

"Anyway, we always wound up wearing what was in style for the No-Majs. And this dress kind of reminds me of stuff that I would see in photographs from forty, fifty years ago. It just doesn't seem very stylish, and you're such a fashionable witch, Vinda. Let's see something else."

Madame Trousseau helped Vinda out of the frilly, lacy gown and slid her into a long-sleeved, high-necked gown in cream-coloured silk. The instant Madame Trousseau began to do up the back, Queenie gasped from where she sat on the edge of Vinda's bed and marveled,

"That looks like a dream."

"I do quite like this one." Vinda stared at herself in the full-length mirror, studying the simple, watery silk design, and she asked, "Do you think Sieg will like it?"

Sieg Larsen. It was odd to hear his given name; Queenie always thought of him only as Larsen. She grinned and nodded.

"I think Larsen would think you were the most beautiful woman in the world in that, Vinda. Oooh, look at the train."

Madame Trousseau carefully arranged the short train, which had embroidery and beading on it, just like the sleeves did. Vinda's eyes welled in the mirror as Madame Trousseau carefully arranged tortoiseshell combs into her coiffed hair; the combs had an elegant but simple veil attached. The veil ran all the way down Vinda's back and reached the floor, and suddenly Queenie felt like she was going to cry. She'd never had real friends in her life, and with Vinda she felt like she really did have one. She pulled out her wand and Conjured a bouquet of cream roses, which she handed over to Vinda to hold so the look was complete. Vinda stared at herself in the mirror and whispered,

"Yes. This is the one."

"Ooh!" Queenie squealed and clapped her hands merrily. She kicked her feet in delight and whimpered, "You're going to be the most elegant, most beautiful bride there ever, ever was, Vinda. You look perfect."

" _Merci._ " Vinda turned over her shoulder and smiled weakly. "I wonder, Queenie, if you would consider being our witness in the binding ceremony. We only need one besides the officiant. We would be honoured if you would consider it."

"Oh! Oh, my goodness. The honour's all mine!" Queenie exclaimed, and she scoffed as she shook her head. "My goodness; I can't believe all this joy. All this… all this happiness."

And she couldn't. Not really. Things felt good today. She'd awakened to find Grindelwald in her bed, dreaming of _her_ , and when he'd woken, he'd kissed her neck and whispered that he loved her. Then they'd had breakfast alone together, and he'd gone into the mountains to train Aurelius with the promise that he would be faithful to Queenie. She'd come to Vinda's quarters for the dress fitting, and now she'd been asked to be a witness. There was, truly, an abundance of happiness, it seemed.

And Queenie didn't mind one bit.

* * *

"An athletic arena?" Grindelwald raised his brows and drummed his fingers on his desk in his office. Krenn, one of Grindelwald's Austrian associates, nodded his head and confirmed,

"We have secured the space, _Herr_ Grindelwald. _Es ist vollständig mit der besten Magie gesichert._ It is normally an arena used to observe track and field matches."

"It'll be cold outdoors in the winter in Vienna," Grindelwald noted. "I'll have to keep the speech short. _Die Leute werden einfrieren -_ people will freeze before I get the message to them."

" _Keine Sorge._ We have cast heavy-duty Warming Spells upon the arena to test them, and they hold for hours. Before the rally, we'll warm the space so that those who attend will not become overly cold, _Herr_ Grindelwald." Krenn folded his hands before him, looking steady and sure in his black woolen robes. Grindelwald nodded.

"So, the rally will be on New Year's Day?" he confirmed. "At four in the afternoon? I'll want to alert my followers in advance as well as doing a call the day of."

" _Ja_ ; that is the plan." Krenn nodded, and he asked, "How else may I be of service?"

"You've done well, my good man," Grindelwald promised him. "This rally will be one for the ages. I have great plans for this speech. _Danke._ Dismissed."

Krenn left then, and a few moments later, there was a knock on Grindelwald's office door that he instantly recognised. He wandlessly pulled his door open to see Queenie standing there in a vibrant red dress, and when she came walking in, she seemed to have quite the bounce in her step. He raised an eyebrow.

"I take it by your good mood that Vinda found a wedding gown."

"She's going to look spectacular." There was relish in Queenie's voice as she chewed her lip and added, "She asked me to be their witness."

"Oh. Wonderful." Grindelwald wandlessly pushed out the chair opposite him and prompted Queenie, "Sit, will you?"

She frowned a little but sank into the chair and said,

"You wanted to see me. Is something wrong, Gellert?"

He still wasn't at all used to hearing her name from him, but he decided in that instant that he liked it very much indeed. He gulped and thought back to how Credence had tried to elicit another kiss from him up on the mountain, how greedy the boy had been about it, and how Grindelwald had realised it had been a mistake to kiss him at all in the first place. He stared at Queenie and wondered again what she'd look like in white, and then he cleared his throat roughly.

"I want to try something with you," he said. "A little… experiment, if you'll indulge me."

Queenie grinned nervously. "Your last experiments got you expelled from Durmstrang."

He smirked and tipped his head, rolling his eyes at her. He asked her,

"How difficult is it for you to interpret the thoughts of someone thinking in another language?"

"It's basically impossible," she said. "I get the feel, you know? The general impression. I see images, visuals. I feel what they're feeling. But their actual thoughts are like chaos in my head, just words screaming at me, words I can't understand, and it all becomes distracting and awful."

"Sounds miserable." Grindelwald tapped his fingers on the desk and asked, "Have you ever attempted a Babel Charm? It allows you to understand the spoken language of anyone around you. It's very difficult to cast; it requires a good deal of concentration to hold it. But it might allow you to understand thoughts around you."

Queenie's mouth fell open. "A Babel Charm?" she repeated. "I've never even… why has no one ever told me about it?"

"It's very advanced magic," Grindelwald reiterated. "I can teach you. We can practise."

"Yes, please," Queenie said at once, and Grindelwald smirked again. He nodded and cleared his throat, pulling out the Elder Wand. He demonstrated the cycling motion with a slow drag at the end, and Queenie quickly pulled out her own feminine wand, mimicking his actions. She cycled her wand in four circles and then dragged.

"Then just as you finish up that drag," said Grindelwald, "you incant with great deliberation, _Perceptio Loquela._ "

" _Perceptio Loquela!_ " repeated Queenie, sounding very determined. Grindelwald nodded at her and then said,

"You'll need to really, genuinely focus to hold it. All right. Let's try. Give it a go."

He took down his Occlumency shields and began to think in French, contemplating how good Queenie's cooking was.

 _Tout ce qu'elle cuisine est la nourriture la plus délicieuse sur la Terre…_

Queenie cycled her wand four times and dragged it to the side, and just before she finished dragging it, she said very firmly,

" _Perceptio Loquela!"_

 _Honnêtement, si je mangeais sa cuisine à chaque repas, aucun de mes vêtements ne me conviendrait car je grossirais._ Grindelwald kept thinking about her cooking, and suddenly Queenie giggled, her face lighting up.

"I can tell you're thinking in… in French?" she noted, "but I can understand. I would never make you fat!"

Grindelwald smiled at her and switched his thoughts to German.

 _Sie ist die schönste Hexe der Welt, und ich habe viele gesehen._

Her grin grew, and she said softly,

"German now, and you don't have to compliment my looks to get me to like you."

 _Sie ist so viel brillanter, als sie sich selbst zugibt,_ thought Grindelwald, and suddenly Queenie's eyes welled. He'd thought in German, _She's so much more brilliant than she admits to herself._ It seemed to affect her. So did the spell; she touched at her forehead and whispered,

"Getting a little headache."

"Rest; it's your first time trying." He watched her crinkle her brows with effort, and he finally aimed the Elder Wand at her and murmured, " _Finite Incantatem._ "

"You want me to use this spell at the rally," Queenie wisely noted. "You want me to listen to the people who are thinking in German and French and Italian there, and you want me to be on the lookout for danger or betrayal."

"Yes." He sighed. "I realise it's a lot to ask. I want you to walk around the arena and just… check in. Feel out the tones of the minds who come to hear me speak."

"I can do that," Queenie said with a vigorous nod. "This is how I serve your movement. With what I've thought was a curse for my whole life."

"A curse." Grindelwald shook his head and glanced out the window, staring at the craggy cliffs around him. "Queenie, you are a profoundly gifted witch."

"So you thought in German," she said quietly, and he turned back to her, studying her wide eyes for a moment before he told her,

"You did well with that Babel Charm for having never tried it."

"I have a good teacher," she said with a weak smile. Grindelwald curled up half his mouth and nodded.

"I want you practising with everyone at dinner tonight, and every chance you get. I need you to have that spell perfected in just a few days' time. The rally is on New Years' Day in an athletic arena in Vienna. We don't have much time to spare on this."

"I'll be ready, Gellert," Queenie promised, and he shivered at the sound of his name from her again. He beckoned to her with one finger, and she rose, walking over to him and standing before him as he turned his chair.

"I meant what I thought," he told her. "Your cooking really is absurdly good, and you really are the most beautiful witch in all the world, and you genuinely are far more talented than you give yourself credit for being. So."

She laced her fingernails onto his short-cropped hair, just the way he liked, and she bent down to touch her lips to his. She whispered against his mouth,

"Thank you for the lesson, sir."

"Dismissed," he murmured onto her lips, and she gave him a dazzling, cheeky smile as she pulled away and walked out of his office.

 **Author's Note: So, this fic is at a bit of a crossroads. I could either a) wrap it up in the next few chapters and have it end at around 43,000 words OR b) I can delve more deeply into the subplots involving Queenie/Grindelwald's relationship, Queenie's "breakup" with Tina/Newt/Jacob, Aurelius/Credence's training and reunification with Nagini, etc. and have this fic extend well beyond probably 75,000 words. Basically, it's a question of whether this is a "romp" or an "epic" (If you're familiar with my past works). I'll be deciding tonight/tomorrow, so if you have an opinion on the matter, please do let me know. I'm interested in hearing whether people are kind of done with this fic or would like to see the subplots deepen and read on to 75k+ words. Thanks so much for your readership and input. HAPPY THANKSGIVING to my American readers!**


	19. Perceptio Loquela

Queenie's heels clicked on the marble floor as she approached the dining room. She was running just a little late; she'd received two new dresses from Madame Trousseau when she'd come for Vinda's bridal gown fitting, and she hadn't been able to decide between the dark blue and the black. She'd finally put the sapphire crushed velvet dress on and made her way to group dinner, and now as she approached the dining room, she smiled to see Grindelwald walking toward her from the other direction. He held his hand out to her, and when she took it, he kissed her knuckles and murmured,

"My, don't you look lovely tonight."

She felt her cheeks go warm, and she grinned broadly at him, whispering,

"You're handsome as ever."

He flicked his eyes up and down her form and teased her, "I'm tempted to skip dinner and go strip that new dress right off of you, Queenie."

"You'd be hungry." She stroked at his waistcoat, and she stepped up close. "I couldn't have you go hungry. You can strip it off me later."

He smirked. She was getting the idea of how he liked to play his games. He put his hands on her waist and bent to kiss her, brushing his lips against hers, and he sucked in air through his nose.

"No; this needs to stop now," he whispered, "or else it'll end with you up against the wall and your knickers shoved aside."

"Gellert!" Queenie giggled and clutched at his waistcoat beneath his trench, but when he kissed her rather deeply, she let him do it and even let him back her up toward the stone wall. She gasped when he pulled away, and she reached on impulse to feel that he'd started to go hard in his trousers. He hissed and lamented,

"Dinner time."

"Yeah." She caressed his growing bulge through his trousers and stared up at his uneven eyes. "Dinner time."

"Cast your Babel Charm now," he commanded her, and she realised that at least part of what had just happened had been to scramble her mind a little and make the spell more of a challenge for her. She huffed a breath and reached to pull out her wand from the pocket in her dress. She blinked a few times, stepped back from Grindelwald, and began to cast the difficult charm. She swirled her wand four times and dragged, then incanted in the direction of the dining room, which was abuzz with conversation,

" _Perceptio Loquela!_ "

"Now hold it throughout dinner." Grindelwald took Queenie's hand in his and shocked her by walking into the dining room with her fingers laced through his. Everyone rose when he walked into the room, and he acknowledged them by bowing, touching his left hand to his chest, and saying in his smooth, slick voice,

"Good evening, brothers and sisters. A delicious meal to all. Please, sit."

He took his place at the head of the table, and Queenie sat to his right, but for a long moment, he didn't let go of her hand. It wasn't until the first course of steamed mussels appeared that he let her go, and then she asked him,

"Do you remember eating mussels with me out on your balcony?"

"Of course I do." He smiled a little wistfully and gave her a meaningful look. "Listen."

She nodded and turned her attention down to eating her own mussels, but as she speared one with a small fork, she fully opened her mind to the thoughts at the table. Some were already in English. Carrow was English, and she was thinking about how jealous she was that Vinda Rosier's burns had healed so well and the witch had become so beautiful again. She was jealous of Queenie, too, because Grindelwald was obviously in love with her. Carrow was thinking about how plain she was, and how she had only one person who had given her attention. Queenie frowned then, because the face that flashed in Carrow's mind was a quick, vivid image of Larsen.

Queenie's mind was suddenly invaded by German thoughts from Krenn, the Austrian man who had arranged the upcoming rally in Vienna. She could read his thoughts as plainly as if they'd been in English.

 _I hope our Muggle-Repelling Charms hold fast. We'll need him to cast his special blue flame around the perimeter; the last thing we need is another raid from Aurors…_

"Krenn is thinking about logistics of the raid," Queenie murmured quietly, and Grindelwald looked pleased as he finished up his mussels. The plates changed out to roast quail with haricots vert and potatoes, and Queenie listened again. She caught the train of thought of Brodeur, a Frenchman who had apparently been integral to the planning of everything that happened in Paris. He was thinking in French, but thanks to her carefully held (and aching) Babel Charm, Queenie could understand him just fine. That fact, as it turned out, was horrifying.

 _The things I would do to that body of hers. I'm sure her breasts are the most beautiful things… what I would give to lick her, get just one taste._

Suddenly Queenie realised something. Brodeur kept glancing up from his food to stare at her, and his wicked thoughts were about Queenie herself. She gasped a little and tried to listen to someone else, but Brodeur's thoughts invaded her mind, and she found herself putting her fingers to her ears.

 _I'd make her love my cock. Make her worship it. I want to see her naked. I want to lick her between her -_

"Queenie."

She jolted out of listening and looked up to see Grindelwald appearing very concerned, a speared bite of quail on his fork as he stared at her.

"What's the matter?" he demanded, but as Queenie glanced back to Brodeur, who seemed to realise he'd been caught, his face gone beet red, she knew that she couldn't tell. After all, Grindelwald held no mercy for those who offended him, and Brodeur's thoughts would earn him death. Queenie would cost this man his life if she told Grindelwald the truth. She shook her head and insisted,

"It's just a lot all at once. A lot to try and listen to at the same time."

He narrowed his eyes. He didn't believe her. He took a bite of his quail and chewed, and then he sipped his white wine and told her softly,

"Enough practise if it's wearing on you like that."

"No. I'm fine." Queenie forced herself to listen to an Italian witch think about the latest in wizarding hat fashion for a while, which was oddly soothing. She ate some quail and green beans and potatoes, but then her mind drifted to listening to the Norwegian-language thoughts of Sieg Larsen.

 _I hope Vinda never finds out_ , Larsen was thinking. _It was only a few times, and only because I was curious. Carrow and I have been friends for a while. I felt badly for her. She wasn't even that good. If Vinda found out I'd fucked Carrow, she wouldn't marry me. How can I keep Carrow from squealing, though? She seems like the type who might let it slip on purpose just to get some kind of revenge or something. If I -_

Queenie dropped her fork and knife with a clatter and glared across the table at Larsen. Vinda gasped at the way Queenie had so suddenly exploded, and she asked gently,

"Are you all right, Queenie?"

"No, not really, Vinda." Queenie stared right at Larsen, whose cheeks went very pink, and Vinda seemed immensely confused. But Vinda and Larsen and everyone else knew that Queenie was a Legilimens, so Vinda quickly picked up on the fact that the problem was in Larsen's mind. She scowled and whispered to him,

"Whatever is the matter?"

Larsen was silent. Queenie cleared her throat and asked Grindelwald in a shaking voice,

"Please, sir, may I be excused?"

Grindelwald tipped his head, wide-eyed, and glanced around the table, which had gone quiet. He finally nodded and commanded Queenie in a very calm voice,

"Wait in your chambers for me and we will discuss this privately."

"Thank you, sir." Queenie flew to her feet and stared at Vinda as her eyes welled. Vinda looked terribly confused, wrapping her hand through Larsen's arm, and Queenie shook her head minutely as she walked briskly out of the dining room. She made her way to her quarters and shoved her way in, sitting on her divan and burying her face in her hands. She didn't care what Grindelwald said about Legilimency being a _gift_. It wasn't a _gift_. It was a curse. Who wanted to hear that level of personal detail from everyone around them? Who wanted to hear some nasty Frenchman think lewd thoughts about one's own body? Who wanted to hear their only true friend's intended thinking about his infidelity? No, she would not wish this on her worst enemy, she thought.

Ten minutes later, the door to her quarters opened without knocking or pretense, and in walked Grindelwald. He shut the door, locked it with a wandless, nonverbal spell, and sat on the divan beside Queenie. He cleared his throat gently and said,

"Let us begin with Brodeur, since I saw you eyeing him and you seemed upset by what he was thinking."

"No, please." Queenie shut her eyes. "I can't be responsible for that."

"What is that meant to mean?" Grindelwald's voice was lethally steady, but she knew he was trembling with anger already. She finally shut her eyes, knowing she could not keep secrets from him forever. He would never allow it. So she finally repeated some of what Brodeur had been thinking.

"He was fantasising about my breasts, about licking between my legs," she said, and she heard Grindelwald sigh beside her. She watched his fingers clench around his knees, and when she looked up to him, she begged, "Please do not kill a man for thinking about my body, Gellert."

"I will do what is necessary," he said, narrowing his eyes. "And Larsen?"

"He's been sleeping with Carrow," Queenie said simply. "He's afraid Vinda will find out and won't marry him."

Grindelwald licked his bottom lip and nodded. "Do you think Vinda should find out and have her happiness destroyed."

"I think Vinda deserves the truth!" Queenie said rather explosively. Grindelwald tucked her hair behind her ear and shook his head.

"How very _good_ you are," he said, almost in a complaint. "You don't suppose it would protect her long-term happiness to spare her this knowledge?"

"What?" Queenie scoffed. "She deserves the truth, and then she can make up her own mind about marrying Larsen or not."

"Mmm." Grindelwald chewed his lip. "Tread very carefully. These are two of my most loyal and important followers. I can not have vicious discord among them just because you overheard something that was meant to stay secret."

"Everything is about means to an end for you, isn't it?" Queenie's eyes watered. "It doesn't matter that Vinda got cheated on; all that matters is that she and Larsen both stay loyal servants to you."

"To the movement," he corrected her, and Queenie rose, walking slowly into her bedroom. She started to undress, feeling rather brazen about doing so these days in front of Grindelwald, and she insisted,

"I'm not doing anything about it tonight. I can't. I'm done playing Legilimency tonight. My mind is officially closed for business. I'm going to bed. I'll think about this tomorrow."

"If you'd like, I'll speak to Larsen and let him know that he's been found out and that he needs to inform Vinda himself," Grindelwald suggested, and as Queenie slid her dress up over her head, she nodded vigorously.

"Yes. Please. Do that. And just let the thing with Brodeur go. Please."

"I will make my own decision about that," Grindelwald said sternly. He stood from the divan and walked into the bedroom, and he leaned against the doorjamb as Queenie arranged herself into a new nightgown - white silk. She heard his breath hitch a little, and when she turned, he told her,

"That colour looks good on you."

"What, white?" She smirked and looked down. "Thanks."

"Listen. I don't like anyone else thinking about you like that, and it isn't just because I feel possessive over you. I do, by the way; I feel monstrously possessive of you. But it's also because you deserve better than to be leered at during dinner. So."

Queenie's eyes welled at that, and she stepped closer to him, whispering,

"I love you so much."

She reached for his trousers, and he sucked in breath hard through his nostrils as she began to unbutton. He let her yank out his shirt and pull out his half-hard cock, and as she began to play with it, she stared up into his pale eye and asked,

"Will you play me songs on your mandolin again soon?"

"Of course I will," he promised. "Would you prefer I do that before or after I give my speech in Vienna?"

She shivered at the thought of him speaking in the arena, and she murmured, "Both. Before and after."

"All right." He held her face in his hands and kissed her, now fully erect in her hands, and he backed her up toward the bed. He pushed her down onto the bed, where she landed with a bit of an _oof_ , and he pulled her until her hips were right on the edge. He played with her breasts through the lace and silk of her nightgown, sliding his thumbs around her hardening nipples, and she tipped her head back. He reached between her legs - she hadn't put knickers on - and the instant he touched at her folds, he whispered,

" _Gaudens Maxima._ "

"What?" Queenie gasped and moaned as white-hot pleasure suddenly took her over. Her back arched on its own and her fingers clenched at the sheets. Oh, this felt good. This felt very, very good. She was clenching around his fingers, coming so hard, harder than she could remember doing. He cast the spell again before she could recover, and then a third time, and by the time she finally - _finally!_ \- started to come down from her high, Queenie felt sticky and dizzy and thirsty.

"What… was… _that?_ " she demanded, and Grindelwald smirked down at her, clutching his cock in his hand. He bent a little and slid right into her sopping, swollen entrance, and he held her hips as he began to pump himself into her. Queenie wrapped her legs around his waist and grasped at his forearms, covered in thick velvet. She arched up again, for this felt so good, too, being filled by him repeatedly. He was stuffing her with every thrust, and she adored it. She moaned softly, feeling a little sensitive from how much he'd made her come, and she gazed up into his uneven eyes.

"You are mine," he said through clenched teeth, and there was a sudden flash, a thought that came through his Occlumency shields. _I adore her in white._ Queenie was a little confused by the thought until she realised the implication of it, and then her eyes burned like mad. She gulped and felt his cock twitch inside of her as he came, wondering distantly if he was going to wind up killing one follower and breaking up the marriage of two others because of her Legilimency. She groaned as he pulled out of her, as his come leaked between her thighs, and she mumbled her gratitude when he Siphoned and Scoured the mess he'd made. He tucked himself back away, along with his shirt, and he cleared his throat as Queenie sat up slowly.

"I'll speak with Larsen," he promised her, "and try to contain this situation."

"I have faith in your ability to contain situations," said Queenie seriously. "I know you won't let this spiral out of control, but you'll still give Vinda control over her fate."

"Yes." He cupped her cheek and kissed her delicately, and he whispered against her lips, "Tomorrow, I'll play you songs on my mandolin."

"And after that, I'll be your ears at your rally," Queenie promised, covering his hand with hers. "For the Greater Good."

He kissed her again and then pulled away, unlocking Queenie's door from two metres away and leaving without another word.

 **Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who gave suck invaluable feedback about the length of this story. I have decided to continue it onward to the 75k length marker, so we'll definitely see subplots fleshed out. Hope that's okay and that you'll stick along for the ride and continue letting me know what you're thinking as you read! Next up, we'll find out what poor Vinda thinks of her situation, and we'll also finally get to see THE RALLY (Grindelwald speech scenes are wayyyyyy too fun to write, btw). Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	20. Arena

"You asked to see me, Monsieur?" Brodeur shut the office door behind him and came walking gingerly into the room.

"I demanded your presence," Grindelwald corrected. He twirled the Elder Wand in his fingers and commanded without equivocation, "Sit."

Brodeur looked terrified as he came to sink into the chair opposite Grindelwald. He cleared his throat and said carefully,

"I hope you know of my complete devotion to your cause, Monsieur."

" _Expelliarmus._ " Grindelwald caught Brodeur's wand as it flew out of his suit coat and soared through the air toward him. He set it down on his desk and sighed as Brodeur stared at him in shock.

"Monsieur…"

"You thought about licking between her legs." Grindelwald shook his head, feeling his ears go hot with rage he struggled to control. It took maximum effort to maintain calm, to keep hold of the cool demeanour he'd carefully crafted. He took a deep breath as Brodeur attempted,

"I am sincerely sorry for fantasising about her. It will not happen again. I will not allow my own mind to wander to such things. I promise."

"For this crime, there can be no forgiveness," Grindelwald shrugged, rather helplessly. He met Brodeur's pale, desperate eyes and told him, "There is a price for thought like that. Thank you for your service in Paris. It is a damned shame it has to end like this."

He aimed the Elder Wand at Brodeur, who held his hands up and bugged his eyes out as he stammered,

" _N-Non! Non!_ Please! I beg you!"

" _Avada Kedavra._ " Grindelwald incanted the Killing Curse with a twinge of regret; this was one of his most useful servants he was executing. But as the man slumped in death under the vibrant jade green flash of light, Grindelwald remembered that he'd been thinking vile thoughts about Queenie, and that was enough for him to die.

For five minutes, Grindelwald stared at the unmoving corpse of Brodeur, and then he finally Vanished the body and the wizard's wand. Then there was no trace that Brodeur had ever been born, that the man had ever lived. There would be no funeral. There would be no recognition of his demise. He was simply gone now. Grindelwald eyed the empty chair where Brodeur had been and whispered to himself,

"Death to traitors for the greater good."

There was knocking on his office door then, and he called out,

"Enter."

The office door opened, and Vinda Rosier came walking slowly inside, her normally elegant face looking bloated and puffy from obvious hours of crying. She'd gathered herself before coming here, he could see, though she was still blotchy. She was dressed in a black velvet dress-coat, with a solemn sort of hat perched above her tightly coiffed hair. She looked like she was in mourning. She stood, her black-gloved hands folded before her, and she asked quietly,

"May I sit, please?"

Grindelwald glanced at the chair and considered warning her that there had been a corpse in it just a few moments earlier. But she didn't need that right now. So instead, he wandlessly pushed the chair out and gestured for Vinda to have a seat, and when she perched herself on the edge of the seat, he asked carefully,

"Would you like tea?"

"No. Thank you." She licked her lip and touched at her hat, and she sniffled just a little bit. She stared at the edge of the desk and said, "I would like to respectfully request that I be permitted to serve you from my home in Paris."

Grindelwald scoffed and shook his head. "Request denied. You are among my absolute most critical soldiers, Vinda; your place is here. That is my final decision on that matter."

She was silent at that, and he drummed his fingers on the desk as he contemplated that Larsen was significantly less vital to his movement than Vinda was, and he had been the one at fault in all of this, anyway. Grindelwald sighed.

"Sieg Larsen will be sent to our field office in Berlin," he announced. "He will serve us from Germany. You will remain here, and I expect you to be able to continue working with Carrow. You needn't be her friend, but you will remain efficient and effective."

Viinda shut her eyes and nodded. " _Merci._ "

Grindelwald paused and then said reassuringly, "You are strong, Vinda. One of the strongest people I have ever met."

She let out a strange little sound then, and she opened her eyes, which were watering. She gave a sad little smile and said,

"Do you know, Queenie said almost exactly the same thing to me not a half hour ago?"

"Great minds think alike," Grindelwald told her, sitting up a bit straighter. "You will overcome this, Vinda, because you are a powerful witch and a valued soldier. And your happiness will come to you ten times over."

"I am grateful," Vinda said, sounding as though she were trying to convince herself of that. She nodded resolutely. "Queenie told me how it was that she deciphered what Sieg was thinking. She was using something called a Babel Charm, she said, to understand the thoughts of everyone in the room. And he wasn't expecting it; he wasn't expecting for her to see those awful thoughts. So I am very grateful to my friend Queenie, for using her wondrous gift. Otherwise, I might have married him and might not have realised I was marrying an adulterer. She kept apologising, saying she was sorry she could hear his thoughts, but I am grateful she is here. I am glad I found her crying in that street in Paris."

"So am I." Grindelwald met Vinda's eyes directly for a long moment, and he nodded. "So am I."

* * *

The sporting arena was a dour-looking place constructed of limestone. It was surrounded by an empty field that must have been verdant and lush in the summertime, but was grey and sorrowful now in the winter. Queenie walked beside Vinda, both of them having Apparated here from Nurmengard, and she muttered,

"This place has all the energy of a funeral home."

"It will illuminate with his words," Vinda assured Queenie, who smiled a bit and nodded. She glanced back toward Vienna to see the billowing black cloths in the air, summoning Grindelwald's followers. Queenie felt anxious; Grindelwald had decided not to cast his trademark blue fire around the arena. He wanted this speech to be open to those who were still uncertain about his cause, he'd said. But Queenie sensed danger for some reason. Perhaps it was because Sieg Larsen had been sent to Berlin two days earlier, but had vanished and had never appeared in the field office. A missing Larsen and no judgmental fire made Queenie's stomach churn with unease. She said quietly to Vinda,

"I wish he would… I dunno. Reschedule."

"Reschedule?" Vinda frowned deeply. She looked so elegant in her dark grey long coat and her black velvet hat. "Why would he do that? Because of Sieg? Sieg is a traitor now; he'll be executed once he's found."

Queenie let out a shaking breath and shrugged. "This just feels like Paris all over again. Like a trap."

"We laid the trap in Paris," Vinda reminded her, and Queenie gulped as she nodded.

"That's true."

She smoothed her black tweed coat and flexed her hands inside her leather gloves. It was cold out here, but supposedly, it was warm inside the arena. That was what Krenn had said at the meeting they'd held just before leaving Nurmengard, anyway. Queenie walked with Vinda toward the arched, Classical-style entrance of the arena, and as they went inside, the air got warmer. Queenie pulled off her gloves and tucked them into her pockets, and she was surprised to see that there were already well over a hundred people in the oval stands. Some people were sitting, others anxiously standing, and a few were murmuring quietly to one another. Vinda and Queenie made their way up into the stands off the field, taking their place in the very front row.

Queenie pulled out her wand and cycled it four times, dragging it and casting her Babel Charm. Vinda looked curious, but Queenie just shrugged and insisted,

"I have a job to do during this speech."

"Right," Vinda nodded.

"You were beside him in Paris," Queenie noted, "during his speech. He didn't mention needing an assistant this time."

"No. I don't think he's prophesying this time," Vinda said. "I think he's got it covered."

She smiled a little, and as the two witches sank slowly onto the bleacher, more people Apparated into the stadium. Queenie looked around her and listened to the thoughts of the people in her vicinity.

 _I can't wait to hear him speak._

 _I wonder if it's true that he really wants to kill all the non-Magiques._

 _It's so nice and warm in here. They must have powerful wizards working for them. I want to work for them._

 _I hear he's handsome. I also hear he's got a strange eye. Wonder if I'll be able to see it from here._

 _I'm so excited I could burst._

Vinda sighed and said softly to Queenie,

"I want to thank you again."

"Vinda, you have nothing to be grateful for," Queenie said sadly, shaking her head. She stared at her beautiful friend and tucked a stray wisp of Vinda's dark hair into her hat. "We're gonna find some guy to make you happy like you deserve."

Vinda rolled her eyes and insisted, "I do not need a man."

"You're right; you're perfectly capable of being happy all on your own," Queenie agreed stoutly, "but sex is always good, too, right?"

Vinda snorted a little laugh then, and Queenie giggled a bit. But then she noticed that the stands of the arena had completely filled, and there was a rather loud buzz of excitement filling the place. Vinda and Queenie rose from their bleacher and looked slowly around themselves, studying the scene. Then, suddenly, a roar went up from the opposite side of the stadium, and Queenie realised those people could see what she and Vinda couldn't from their angle - Grindelwald.

The roar intensified as Grindelwald came striding confidently onto the dead grass field in the centre of the oval. He held his arms out as if to absorb the applause and cheers, and he circled slowly around like a predator stalking prey. He touched his hand to his chest and bowed, and when at last the cheering subsided, he found the place where Queenie and Vinda were sitting. He stared right at Queenie for a moment, nodded at her, and then turned away. She felt her heart race at that, at the acknowledgement from him, and she glanced at Vinda and grinned. Then she turned her attention to the minds in the stands opposite her and began picking out thoughts. German, French, Italian.

 _Oh, he's rather terrifying. But also good-looking. Why am I attracted to him?_

 _I can't wait to hear what he has to say._

 _I hope nothing bad happens here like it did in Paris._

 _Kill the non-Magiques!_

"My brothers and sisters. My friends." Grindelwald held his arms out again. "Today is New Year's Day! Today we celebrate the dawning of a new year in which, together, we shall accomplish more than we ever dreamed possible. We shall, in the coming year, initiate momentum toward the natural order which will save all of our lives, but this is not something any of us can accomplish alone. We stand in a stadium where events like running races occur, and that is appropriate. Why? Because we are running a race, too, my brothers and sisters. We are not sprinting. We are not leaping. We are running a long, arduous relay as a team. I need each and every one of your assistance in my cause. Each of you is here because each of you has a unique role to fill, a unique part to play. We are all of us together in this… for the greater good."

Another round of applause went up, and Queenie clapped enthusiastically. Vinda applauded, too. Queenie used the opportunity to listen to some more thoughts, shutting her eyes and pulling out minds.

 _What he's saying makes so much sense; I don't know why Robert thinks he's insane._

 _I like what he has to say. Why are people opposed to him?_

 _I want to run the race with him. Where do I sign up?_

 _There aren't Aurors here, are there?_

Then Grindelwald continued,

"Word has reached those of you who were not with us in Paris of the decimation that will be wreaked on our world by _les non-Magiques,_ the Muggles, the No-Majs, the Can't-Spells. They will incinerate millions with weaponry that no human being has ever imagined. They will march themselves - and perhaps us - off to camps with the express purpose of extermination. They will destroy entire cities. They will slay children in their homes; they will seek to burn and violate everything in their path."

Gasps of horror went up around the arena, and Queenie felt ill as she remembered the way Jacob had ignored Grindelwald's terrifying vision of the war. Grindelwald held up his hand and shook his head for a long moment, and then he said,

"All is not lost, my brothers and sisters. All is not hopeless. This war that I have seen in visions of the future? It need not come to pass. Not if we act as one community of magically gifted souls. Not if we are united together, witches and wizards brought to our rightful place to police the barbarity of those who lack magic and replace it with savagery. We can save them. And in doing so, we will save ourselves. It is not only our birthright, friends, but our duty!"

More cheers erupted then, and Grindelwald looked blissful. He tipped his head back and soaked in the cheering, and then when quiet fell again, he began to speak. But Queenie wasn't listening to him anymore, because suddenly her mind was invaded by a very, very familiar pulse - an internal voice she'd heard all her life.

Tina.

 _There's no way she knows I'm here. Not with the Polyjuice Potion. We'll have to act fast if we want to get her to the Portkey._

Queenie whirled around. She could always sense the direction from which a 'voice' was coming, and she gulped as she spotted a middle-aged witch in the crowd whose thoughts clearly belonged to Tina. Her breath shook as she eyed the elderly wizard beside her, an awkwardly-standing man whom she recognised at once as Newt Scamander. She didn't even need to listen to his thoughts to know it was him; she could tell immediately from the way he stood. But she did listen to his thoughts, and he was thinking,

 _Tina, I adore you, but you're going to get us killed trying to get your sister back. She doesn't want to come with us; we are essentially capturing her as our prisoner, and that's assuming we're even successful in doing that before Grindelwald murders us both. I can't believe we actually listened to that Larsen fellow and came all the way here just to try and get Queenie back._

Then Newt pulled a flask out of his jacket and drank from it, and the middle-aged witch beside him did the same. Polyjuice Potion.

Queenie's mouth fell open. She turned back around, trying to pretend she hadn't seen the disguised Tina and Newt. Vinda was applauding again, and she asked Queenie in a hushed voice,

"What's the matter? Is something wrong?"

Queenie blinked. She could just Disapparate and tell Vinda to tell Grindelwald that she'd gone back to Nurmengard. But she had no idea if Tina and Newt were alone, or whether they had come prepared to fight. They intended on capturing her. She needed to speak to Grindelwald. Now.

Thankfully, he appeared to be finishing up his speech. Queenie pulled out her wand, just in case, and murmured to Vinda,

"Take your wand out."

"What is wrong, Queenie?" Vinda hissed again, but Queenie just tried to listen as Grindelwald exclaimed in the climactic rush ending his speech,

"The clock is ticking fast! The calendar moves ever onward! And on this, New Year's Day, we celebrate a new day. A new dawn for wizardkind. We celebrate our new tomorrow. We celebrate what we can do, what we will do, together! For the greater good!"

"For the greater good!" screamed voices from the crowd, and as the roars erupted wildly, Queenie dashed down from the front row and ran out onto the field. Grindelwald looked shocked to see her dashing toward him, but as she approached, she cried,

"Gellert, my sister and Newt Scamander are in the stands, disguised with Polyjuice."

Grindelwald held up his hand to silence the crowd, and the cheers started to quiet. He said quite calmly to Queenie,

"Take me to them."

She took the hand that he held out, hesitantly lacing her fingers through his and leading him toward the stands. She walked up the stairs with him, and the silence of those watching was heavy and deep. The crowd parted like a sea when Queenie reached the row where the disguised Tina and Newt were seated. The middle-aged witch and the elderly wizard pulled out their wands slowly, and Grindelwald nodded. He said politely,

"Hello, Miss Goldstein. Mr Scamander. You'll be coming with us. _Expelliarmus._ "

 **Author's Note: Sorry for that cliffhanger! Haha. So what's going to happen now that Tina and Newt's failed attempt to reclaim Queenie led to them being captured themselves? Hmm… Thanks as always for reading. Please do leave a review if you get a quick moment. Feedback is valued more than I can say.**


	21. Guests

"Miss Goldstein. Mr Scamander. Welcome to our humble abode," said Grindelwald, staring across the table in the Nurmengard parlour. Beside him sat Queenie, and he said gratefully to her, "Thank you for alerting me to the presence of the Bowtruckle on Mr Scamander's person, or else we might have been dealing with some problems later on, hmm?"

Tina Goldstein opened her mouth and started to speak, but Grindelwald held up a finger to silence her, and he shook his head.

"Ah, ah, ah, Miss Goldstein. We shall speak when asked to do so. You see, the wonderful thing about an interrogation with a Legilimens present is that the guests need hardly speak at all."

"Guests," scoffed Newt Scamander quietly, and Grindelwald scowled.

"We could make you significantly more uncomfortable than we are choosing to do, Mr Scamander," he noted. "It is only due to my great affection for Queenie that you are being treated as well as you are."

"Thank you, Gellert," said Queenie softly from beside her, and he covered her hand with his on the table, watching Tina's eyes go wide with shock. Grindelwald brought Queenie's knuckles to his lips and kissed them, breathing in the warm vanilla scent of her, and he shut his eyes for a moment before putting her hand back down. Newt Scamander, who, like Tina, now looked like himself, stared away awkwardly. Tina, though, glared at her younger sister, and Grindelwald realised he needed to make quite a point of just how close he and Queenie were. He held onto Queenie's hand on the table and asked her in a soft, easy voice,

"Where did they encounter Larsen? How did they hear about the rally?"

Queenie stared from Newt to Tina and back again, and then she seemed to really be focusing on pulling out thoughts, memories, from Newt's mind. She nodded at last and said,

"Larsen found Newt in London; Tina was with him. Larsen told them about the rally in Vienna. Tina and Newt couldn't convince Theseus Scamander or the other Aurors to mount a raid on such short notice, but Tina wanted to come alone and try and get me back."

"Where is Larsen now?" asked Grindelwald, and again Tina began searching the minds of her sister and of Newt. Both of them looked very uncomfortable, with Tina even touching at her forehead, and then Queenie turned Grindelwald and said desperately,

"What the Ministry _was_ willing to do was to grant Larsen asylum in exchange for information about you. He's being held in protective custody by British Aurors and is singing like a songbird."

Grindelwald felt a spike of concern for a moment, but he hid it. He shook his head.

"This is of little concern," he insisted. "Larsen knew hardly anything confidential. Still, I'd like to get a team to London to retrieve him as quickly as possible. Excuse me for just one moment, and we shall resume our talks."

He rose from his chair, and Queenie stood out of respect. He held her face in his hands, stared down into her wide eyes, and then bent to give her a long, slow, deep kiss. Her knees buckled a little, and she pressed her palms to his chest. She moaned softly when he searched her mouth with his tongue, and when at last he pulled away, he murmured,

"I'll be right back."

* * *

"What on Earth was _that?_ " snapped Tina as Queenie sank back into her chair and the parlour door shut. Queenie shrugged and said very lightly,

"I am in love with him, Teenie."

Tina scoffed and spluttered a little. "Sorry; did you just try and tell me that you're in love with Gellert Grindelwald?"

Queenie felt red-hot anger flush through her, and she scowled. "And he's in love with me."

"I don't suppose that man can feel love, Queenie," protested Newt, staring at the table, and Queenie angrily demanded,

"Oh, what would you know about human emotion, Newton Scamander?"

Tina gasped, offended, and Newt insisted softly, "More than you think."

"Well, you shouldn't have come to the rally," Queenie said sharply, folding her arms over her chest. "Newt was right about one thing he was thinking. You would have just been capturing me as a prisoner, not rescuing me from anything. I didn't want to come with you; I didn't want to be _saved_. I'm tired of you trying to move me away from this life, Tina. I'm happy here. Happy at long last."

"Where's Pickett?" Newt asked, seemingly out of nowhere, and Queenie said distractedly,

"He's perfectly safe, Newt. I wouldn't let Gellert kill him. Now, listen to me, Tina. I don't want to leave this place, because this is the first time in my life that my Legilimency's been recognised as a gift, that I've been told I'm special and not crazy, and that a man has fallen in love with me for the right reasons."

"The right reasons?" Tina shook her head in disbelief, her eyes watering. "Queenie, how could you say that? How could this terrible man love you for any reason other than manipulating you and getting what he wants out of you?"  
"It isn't like that!" Queenie insisted, but Newt said softly,

"Jacob would take you back in a heartbeat."

"Maybe I don't want Jacob anymore!" Queenie shrieked, and the door to the parlour opened again. Grindelwald came walking inside, and Queenie flew to her feet. Grindelwald walked up to her, wrapped one arm slowly around her waist, and said in a smooth voice,

"How do you manage to make me miss you in five minutes, hm?"

Tina was shaking with anger at the sight of Queenie wrapped up in Grindelwald's arms, but Queenie relished the feel of it. She touched at his chest and stared up into his eyes, and she decided to make a move.

"They think you're just manipulating me. Remember what you saw Jacob saying? In the prophecy? That you were playing me like a fiddle? Tina and Newt seem to think that's true, Gellert."

He tipped his head and turned toward the seated prisoners. "Well, I must say I'm offended. Our love is real."

He rubbed at Queenie's back and kissed her forehead. They both sat, slowly, and he took hold of Queenie's hand again. He said in an almost reassuring voice,

"A retrieval squad is moving on the British Ministry tonight. Sieg Larsen will be executed the moment he's seen."

"Monster," said Tina, but Grindelwald continued,

"So, too, will be Theseus Scamander."

Queenie's stomach sank. She turned her face to Grindelwald and gasped a little, but he stared stoically at Newt, who stammered,

"N-No. What's he done? What's he… what's he done to deserve death, Grindelwald?"

"He is a danger to my movement," Grindelwald said simply. "His demise is for the greater good."

"For the greater good!" shrieked Tina, and she held out her shackled hands and demanded, "You're gonna sit here and let this happen, Queenie? Do something!"

Queenie let out a shaking breath and tried to ask Grindelwald not to kill Theseus. But then she realised she didn't actually _know_ Theseus Scamander. She only knew that he was Newt's brother. And she knew that he was the enemy. He was an Auror, and Auror for a hostile Ministry that wanted to see Grindelwald's undoing. And if Gellert Grindelwald believed truly that Theseus needed to go, he probably did need to go. She shook her head at Tina and insisted softly,

"I trust his judgment."

"You… you bitch." Tina's tears boiled over then, spilling down her cheeks, and her voice shook like mad as she shook her head wildly. "You're lost. You're gone. My sister is dead."

Queenie felt sick. She squeezed at Grindelwald's hand, and he continued on,

"As for the two of you?"  
"What, shall you execute us, as well?" Newt was shakily angry now, too, and he demanded, "Where is Pickett? My Bowtruckle?"

"The creature is fine," Grindelwald assured Newt slyly. "As for executing you… well, I would, you see, except… Tina, I happen to be rather madly in love with your sister, and I fear it might destroy her to see you killed."

Queenie shut her eyes and squeezed at his hand again, and she whispered, "Thank you."

"Instead," said Grindelwald, with a hint of relish in his voice, "the two of you will return to England under the supervision of Vinda Rosier and her associate, Abernathy. You will go once Larsen and Theseus Scamander have been executed. And you will go under the influence of twin Imperius Curses, prepared to unwittingly serve me from afar."

Queenie jolted, staring at him. "Can you control an Imperius Curse from that far away?" she asked. "From Austria to England."

"I have done that and more," he assured her. "If the Curse is strong enough, and the caster powerful enough, one can be Imperiused across enormous distance."

"What are you going to make us do?" Tina asked anxiously, and Grindelwald smirked.

"Why, it's very simple, my dear," he said. "Together, the two of you will destroy the Auror force of the British Ministry of Magic so they aren't such a thorn in my side anymore."

"You are a complete beast," Tina snarled, but Newt cut in softly,

"I think that rather an offense to the actual Beasts in the world, Tina. He's an awful villain is what he is."

"And _you_." Tina turned to her sister, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "How could you let this happen to yourself?"

"I fell in love with a man and a cause, and I fell in love with the greater good." Queenie sat up a bit straighter in her chair, and Tina scoffed and shook her head again.

"I don't suppose there is anything left to say," said Grindelwald, rising and gently pulling Queenie with him. There were guards outside the door, Queenie knew, to keep Newt and Tina from escaping. They'd probably be kept in this parlour overnight, until the recovery squad in England was finished and Grindelwald was ready to Imperius Newt and Tina and send them with Vinda back to Britain. As Grindelwald guided her away, Queenie glanced over her shoulder, wondering if she'd ever see her sister again. Newt spoke up then, rising slowly to his feet with his hands shackled.

"Jacob loves you," he said in a shaking voice, "because he is a genuinely good man who cares for all of the many parts of you, Queenie. And he would still take you back in a moment, even after everything you've done. It isn't too late; you could still have your happily-ever-after with Jacob."

But Queenie felt Grindelwald's hand on the small of her back, felt his fingers laced with hers, and suddenly Jacob Kowalski seemed like a silly, childish memory. She shook her head vehemently and looked from Tina to Newt, then up to Grindelwald.

"I don't want Jacob anymore," she said, and Grindelwald smirked and nodded as he led her out of the room.

 **Author's Note: So at least Grindelwald didn't kill Pickett (Antonio, anybody?) and he isn't killing Newt and Tina (because he loves Queenie) but he's going to Imperius them into committing horrible acts for them. Is that worse? Queenie's clearly all in on Grindelwald. Will Tina and Newt accept that she's really and truly "gone" and won't come back to them? Fair warning that the next chapter has some pretty juicy, detailed lemons. Mwah hahaha. Thanks for reading and a thousand hundred million gazillion thanks for reviewing!**


	22. Change of Plans

Queenie dragged her foot up and down in the water. She poked her toes out of the bath and slid them up the white porcelain, and she tried her best not to imagine Theseus Scamander being killed.

"They are secured," said a voice from the bathroom doorway, "and comfortable. I had them put into a suite with four guards outside the the door; sealed up the window with powerful wards. But they've got a comfortable bed for the night, and a bathroom, and… you seem upset."

Queenie blinked a few times and stared at the taps on the bath.

"Thank you for keeping my sister safe," she mumbled, but Grindelwald stalked slowly into the bathroom in response. His leather boots creaked on the black and white tile floor, and Queenie watched them move, watched the leather bend and crease. She raised her eyes to him, gripping the sides of the bath tub, and she admitted, "I wish Newt's brother didn't have to die."

Grindelwald huffed. "Theseus Scamander represents an existential threat to my movement, Queenie. He and the other Aurors of the British Ministry have already tried once to break up a rally, and -"

"You trapped them in Paris," Queenie argued, and Grindelwald seethed,

"They murdered one of my followers in cold blood, or have you forgotten that red-haired girl falling down dead."

"That wasn't Theseus!" Queenie asserted shrilly, sitting up straighter in the tub. She glared up at him and insisted, "Newt Scamander, for all his faults, is one of the most innocent human beings I have ever met, Gellert, and he doesn't deserve to lose his brother. If someone killed Tina, I'd be furious! I'd be… I'd be broken! And do I know Theseus? No. I don't. But Newt knows him, and Newt loves him, and he is going to be absolutely destroyed by this."

Grindelwald stared down at Queenie, his face unmoving and completely illegible. He was like a stone statue, white and solemn. He was holding his thin, knobby wand, and he dragged his thumb over one of its knots as he sighed. He finally tipped his head and murmured,

"My retrieval squad leaves here in ten minutes for Paris, and then for London. They have orders to kill both Sieg Larsen and Theseus Scamander. But I can sense from you that if I have Scamander killed, it will chip away at your soul a bit. It will break you a little. And I do not wish to break you, not even a little. I must weigh the merits of keeping Scamander alive against how his death will impact you."

He narrowed his eyes, his pale eye and his darker one, and he shook his head a little. He let out a long breath and mumbled,

"Queenie, the horrid, beautiful things you do to me. I'll be right back."

He turned on his heel and walked out of the bathroom then, and Queenie gasped. She drained the bath and got out, drying herself off with a towel. It seemed to take an eternity to get herself into a short black nightgown and black knickers, and as she sat on the edge of her bed, her heart pounding, time crawled. She thought of Tina, thought of Newt, and she shut her eyes. They would be Imperiused, used as tools, Grindelwald had said. She couldn't fight him on that. He was already showing them enormous mercy by not killing them. Actually, the mercy was toward Queenie. Grindelwald knew that killing her sister would destroy Queenie, and so instead he was having them utilised as Imperius victims. That thought still made Queenie's stomach ache, still made her feel like vomiting, but it was better than her sister being murdered. She wondered, briefly, if she had done the wrong thing in running onto the field at the rally. But Grindelwald had assured her multiple times that her actions had been a demonstration of supreme loyalty, and that he was very proud of her. He loved her, he kept saying, kissing her hair and her forehead and her lips. He adored her for what she'd done.

Eventually, the door to her quarters opened and shut, and Grindelwald came stalking slowly inside. He aimed his wand at the door and murmured a quick _Colloportus_. He strode through the sitting room and into the bedroom, and Queenie's breath quickened as she rose off the bed and bowed her head to him.

"The team has gone," Grindelwald said, clasping his hands behind his black velvet trench coat. "They have orders to execute Sieg Larsen on sight and to kill Theseus Scamander only if absolutely necessary."

Queenie's eyes watered. She let out a shaking breath of relief and cupped her hands around her mouth. She nodded and whispered,

"Thank you. Thank you."

"I went to Newt and Tina's suite to notify them of this development," Grindelwald said. "I wanted them to know of my clemency. They were not as grateful as I might have hoped, but… ah, well. They were surprised, though not very glad, to hear that they will not be Imperiused upon their return to England, but will instead have their memories wiped and replaced, and will be deposited by Vinda Rosier in a cottage in Wales. Vinda is working on their memories right now, as we speak."

Queenie's mouth fell open, and she stared in wonder at Grindelwald. So Tina and Newt wouldn't be used as weapons, but would have their memories altered and would be dropped off in Wales? Grindelwald continued,

"They will believe themselves to be a married no-Maj couple, Belinda and Gregory Lyons. They will have simple, pleasant memories, though those memories won't include you, and they won't include what happened in Paris. Hopefully this will get them out of our hair for some time."

"Gellert." Queenie's eyes boiled over with tears, and she sniffled and took a step toward him. "Why… why are you doing all of this?"

"Because…" Grindelwald gulped, his throat bobbing visibly, "because I love you, Queenie Goldstein, and I do not wish to cause you pain. I promised to take care of you. This is my attempt to take care of you."

"Oh." Queenie wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tipped up onto her toes. She kissed lightly at his lips, and she felt his hands go to her waist. She hummed onto his lips, "I couldn't love you more right now if I tried."

"No?" He shucked his velvet trench coat, letting it slide onto the ground, and Queenie quickly began to unbutton his waistcoat. She pushed it off of his shoulders, and as he slithered out of it, she read doubt in his eyes. She nodded.

"You're doing the right thing," she assured him. "You are. You're doing right by so many people, not just me."

"You are, quite literally, the only individual I care about," he shrugged, yanking his white dress shirt out of his trousers and unbuttoning it slowly. "No offense intended, but I couldn't care less if your sister or Newt Scamander are happy, sad, alive, or dead. I only care about you, Queenie. This is all for you. So I hope you realise that these are significant steps being taken in the name of love."

"I do realise it, and I appreciate it." Queenie pushed his shirt off of his chest, and as he yanked at his tight wrists to get them off, he huffed,

"I need to be inside of you. Sooner rather than later."

She understood. He needed to feel intimacy with her after all of this. After changing his plans so radically just for her, he needed to know that what they had was viscerally real. Well, she thought, she'd show him just how real it was, this thing they had together. She peeled off her nightgown and slid down her knickers, making herself naked in a hurry that managed to stay sensual. She reached for his trousers once she was bared, and she began to unbutton them, shoving them down with his underwear as his cock sprang out, surprisingly erect. He hissed a little when she wrapped her hand around him and noted,

"So hard already."

"Anticipation is a powerful aphrodisiac," Grindelwald smirked and tipped his head, and he stepped out of his trousers. "I started wanting you halfway down the corridor, Queenie."

"Mmm." She grinned at him and promised him, "I'm gonna cook you dinner tomorrow night. Since there won't be group dinner. Okay? What do you want me to cook you? Roast chicken and potatoes with glazed carrots, maybe? Hmm?"

"Mmph." Grindelwald tipped his head down against Queenie's as she stroked his cock. "Your cooking. There is nothing like it."

"I dunno; the way you wave your wand around when you're playing with fire is pretty incredible," Queenie muttered, and he laughed a little.

"You like that, do you?" he asked in a teasing voice, and she told him,

"I saw you cast your blue flame around the perimeter of the party in Gablitz. You looked like an orchestra conductor. I went wet watching you do that."

He choked a laugh. "Liar."

"I'm telling the truth," she whispered, pulling her face up to his and dragging her thumb over the tip of his cock. "I want to dance with you again. When will we dance again?"

"Soon." His breath was going shallow, quickening, and she stroked his tip again. His breath hitched hard, and then he mumbled, "Those parties have been massively successful for fundraising; they attract the wealthy. The rally went well. I think we'll plan another party very soon. And we'll dance."

"Okay." Queenie gazed up at him and taunted gently, "Should I dance with Klaus Reiner at this party?"

"No." Grindelwald huffed the word, his cock throbbing in Queenie's hand. "No. You're mine. _Mine_. You will dance with me and with me alone. Because you are _mine_."

"I love you." She tipped her forehead against his chest and kissed there, and he guided her toward the bed. She was damp and sticky now between her legs, aroused by all of this touching and talking. She let him push her gently until she climbed up onto the bed, but she was surprised when he ordered her in a quiet voice,

"Lie on your side."

"Mmm. Okay." Queenie did as he commanded, arranging herself on her side and waiting for him to come up behind her. She was a bit taken aback that he wanted to spoon with her; this was a gentle and slow position that they often used on lazy mornings, not the quick fucking she'd expected of him right now. But as he pushed her knees toward her chest and thrust his cock into her from behind, she found she didn't mind the position one bit. She didn't mind his slow, shallow thrusts. She certainly didn't mind the way he reached around to clasp a breast in one hand as he pumped his hips. And she didn't mind one bit when he began to kiss her neck. It all felt very good, even better when his hand migrated from her breast down between her thighs. Her fingers covered his, and together they pulsed and fiddled with her clit while he pushed into her over and over again. Queenie tipped her head back and moaned helplessly, and Grindelwald firmed up his kisses on her neck. She gasped as his fingers and hers moved harder in tandem, as together they brought her closer to the phantom edge.

"Gellert, I'm gonna…" Queenie felt her cheeks go hot, and he hummed onto her neck and then whispered into her ear,

"Yes, my good girl. _Geliebte..._ "

That did her in. She came hard around his cock, and he groaned as her walls clenched. His fingers could feel the contractions, she knew, and he liked it. She shut her eyes and let the pleasure wash over her, let the heat flush through her veins. Then she was being rolled, and she was on her stomach before she knew what was happening. Queenie pressed her palms to the sheets and pushed herself up just a little, gasping as Grindelwald began to thrust from where he was now kneeling behind her. His cock ground at an incredible angle like this, with her hips down low, and for a moment Queenie thought she would finish again. But he tipped her hips up and thrust harder and harder, and she knew there were only moments left before he found his own peak. She heard him grunting quietly, animalistically, and his hands rubbed over her backside. She turned to look at him over her shoulder, and he jabbed his cock harder into her at the sight of her eyes. He buried himself inside of her then and came, his uneven eyes rolling back in his head, which tipped backward. His mouth fell open, and a choked noise came out of him.

His come leaked back out of Queenie's body, dribbling down the back of her thigh, and for some reason the feel of that made her shiver with delight. She was _his_. He was merciful toward her family and her old friends because he loved her. And his come was leaking down her thigh. All of that combined to make her whisper desperately,

"I love you, Gellert."

"And I you." He pulled out of her body and lay down beside her, ignoring the mess in a way he didn't normally do. Normally he rushed to Siphon and Scour, but tonight he seemed to want to leave his mark on her. Queenie decided not to clean herself up right away. She moved with Grindelwald to lie under the blankets, and she curled up against his body, crossing her arm over his chest and tucking her face against him.

"Are you angry with me?" she asked seriously, for that was a genuine concern. But he sighed and shook his head.

"You are more pure than most within my movement," he said. "There is more good within you than anyone I've ever met except for a scant few. And I would not violate that goodness, not with the way I feel about you. I determined that the deaths and the use of the Imperius were not strictly necessary, and they were not worth the suffering they would cause you. It was simple mathematics, but you must understand that it was not an act of mercy toward your sister or Newt Scamander. My decision was made entirely because of you, Queenie. But, no, I am not angry."

"I hope you realise that I am entirely loyal to you," Queenie vowed, and Grindelwald nodded.

"I knew that when I saw you come sprinting across the field to tell me that your sister was disguised in the stands. I knew it well before that. Rest assured that your loyalty is not in question. If it were, I would not seek to accommodate your goodness."

She sighed and shut her eyes, still feeling a twinge of sadness at the idea of Tina having her memory altered. But then she realised what Grindelwald had done - for _her_ \- and she imagined Newt and Tina living in a quiet cottage somewhere, blissfully unaware that they were enemies with Queenie now, unaware of the battles they'd fought. And she smiled a little, because somehow that seemed like the most merciful outcome at all.

She raised her head up and met Grindelwald's uneven eyes. She reached to scratch at his short-cropped hair, just the way he liked, and she murmured seriously,

"Thank you, Gellert. Thank you."

 **Author's Note: Welp, we all know that memory alteration lasts forever, so obviously Tina and Newt will be gone for good, right? LOL. But good on Grindelwald for changing his plans to try and make Queenie happy? True Love? Thanks as always for reading and reviewing. A fair warning that tomorrow I leave on a ten-day vacation (DISNEY WORLD AND WIZARDING WORLD YEAHHHH). I will be bringing my laptop and will be writing when I get a chance, but I may be updating one chapter per day or even every other day while on vacation. Thanks for your understanding.**


	23. Visions of Horrors

"Enter." Grindelwald looked up from the Austrian wizarding newspaper on his desk as the door to his office opened. Queenie and Vinda came walking in together, which surprised him until Queenie said quite happily,

"We… have been party planning!"

"Oh, you have, have you?" Grindelwald smirked a little, glad to see Vinda in something of a cheerful mood after Larsen's recent execution in London and the breakup of her engagement before that. Vinda bounced on the balls of her feet just a little and pronounced,

"Queenie found ze perfect spot for ze party, Monsieur. A non-Magique mansion - Tullnhaus - outside the city, in a town called Klosterneuburg."

"I know the place well," Grindelwald nodded, and Queenie continued,

"We went to visit the No-Majs and Confounded them, pretending we were seamstresses for the wife," Queenie shrugged. "It's how we examined the place. When we decided the place was perfect for hosting the party, we Confounded them into going to their other home in Salzburg that weekend."

"Perfect," purred Grindelwald. He drummed his fingers on his desk and pulled out a scrap of parchment and a quill. He began to write neatly.

 _My brother and sister wizards,_

 _Kindly join me for a party to discuss a great vision of our future which I have foreseen and wish to share with you all. We will celebrate our fellowship with drinks and dancing at the conclusion of our discussion. Tullnhaus, Klosterneuberg, eight in the evening this Friday next."_

He handed the note to Vinda and said tightly, "I'd like this multiplied and distributed among those most likely to donate. This vision is particularly shocking and will likely elicit large amounts of funding from donors who have the means to give."

Queenie and Vinda looked at one another, and Queenie asked carefully,

"Can you show us the vision?"

He rose from his chair and went to the shelf along the wall where he kept his Seeing Skull. He cleared his throat and pulled it off the shelf, and then he came back to his desk, sat again, and put the hookah mouthpiece between his lips. He took a long drag on the mouthpiece, inhaling deeply and letting his eyes roll back, letting the vision wash over him. He puffed out the smoke in a great breath that blew inky black throughout the office.

Suddenly a horrifying image filled the space above the three of them. There were men in uniforms on white horses, slowly walking along rows of emaciated, ill-looking prisoners beside a barbed wire fence. Queenie gasped. The image transformed until there were naked women, their hair having been shorn short, standing inside a shower room, and suddenly they were all shivering and screaming, clutching at each other and the walls as they appeared to suffocate. The image changed again, until a uniformed man was shown aiming a firearm - one of the non-Magical weapons that had proven so deadly in previous wars - at a quivering elderly man in stripes. He fired the weapon, and the elderly man collapsed, bloodied and dead, lying in snow. The entire vision gave way then, and as Grindelwald set his skull down, Vinda's eyes went wide, and Queenie demanded,

"What was happening there?"

"It was a tangent of the war I showed in Paris," Grindelwald explained calmly. "A genocide they will perpetrate on the basis of religion, creed, belief. They will seek to exterminate some of their own kind through the most egregious acts of violence, and it is only by taking a few lives to save a great many that we can - and must - stop them."

Vinda shrugged a little and demanded, "Why not let them kill themselves off, if they are so hopelessly violent and destructive?"

"Vinda!" Queenie gasped. "We can't let that happen! Those poor women. It looked like what Jacob told me about the trenches, about the gas they used against the soldiers. They were suffocating them! We can't let them do that to themselves!"

"Nor to us." Grindelwald said that calmly but firmly. "If they are willing to put their own into death camps, they will certainly do it to us. They fear anything that is not _normal_ or expected, so they seek to destroy the Other at all costs. It has happened throughout their history. Queenie, you know of this in America with the Native population, which was at times deliberately eradicated by No-Maj settlers."

"Yeah, we learned about that." Queenie pinched her lips tightly and explained to Vinda, "Sometimes the settlers would even give diseased blankets to the Native people to try and kill them off. Or they'd slaughter as many bison as they could so the Native people would starve."

"They are incapable of anything but barbarism," Vinda said, as though it were as simple as that. "Perhaps we should supervise their own self-destruction, and -"

"Vinda." Grindelwald snapped her name, and he shook his head. She had always been entirely too vocal about wanting the demise of the non-Magical. He said very calmly, "Our goal is to put everything in its rightful place, its natural order, and prevent the catastrophes I have foreseen. Not just to protect _les non-Magiques,_ but to protect ourselves. If they will destroy their own kind, they will surely do it to us. We want neither outcome. We want a world where everyone… _everyone_ … lives in peace under the correct order of things. You understand, Vinda, don't you?"

" _Oui, Monsieur._ " Vinda nodded and folded her hands before her emerald green dress. Queenie still looked completely horrified, and she wondered aloud in a quiet voice,

"How could anyone see these prophecies and not join the movement? How could anyone see these visions and not want to prevent them? I don't understand."

"Not everyone is as compassionate as you are, Queenie," Grindelwald reminded her, "and so not everyone has the same sense of urgency in protecting the millions of lives that you can see our movement saving. Your foresight is strong, and for that I am grateful."

She nodded, looking mildly assuaged, but she eyed Vinda and said carefully,

"Maybe we can talk about the other parts of the party we've planned, huh? We have a chilled oyster bar - bringing in the oysters from France that morning. Then we are having a table of Sachertorte and French macarons and éclairs. We'll have a Champagne fountain and Austrian wizarding beer, along with firewhisky available. And water, obviously."

Vinda continued, "There will be a self-playing orchestra playing beloved tunes from wizarding ballets, operas, and magical composers from the last several centuries. We are attempting to strike a profoundly elegant tone with this party, since your aim is fundraising, and because this mansion is a gilded Rococo style, very ornate."

"Sounds magnificent." Grindelwald curled up his lips and nodded. He stared at Queenie for a moment and ordered her, "Spare no expense with Madame Trousseau. I want you denying people their breath when you walk in on my arm."

Vinda's cheeks went a little pink, but Queenie quickly saved the day but muttering,

"Well, Vinda, you'll have to let me go first, then, or you'll steal the good look."

The two witches chuckled a little at that, and Grindelwald found himself content that the two of them were so deep in their friendship. He drummed his fingers on his desk and said,

"If there's nothing else, I'm expecting Aurelius any moment now."

"No, there's nothing else," Queenie assured him, and then, right on cue, there was knocking on the office door. Vinda held up the letter she'd been given, and she promised,

"I'll get this Multiplied and sent out to potential donors today, Monsieur."

"Thank you, Vinda. Queenie, I'd like a private dinner tonight. Cooked by you, if you please." Grindelwald smirked up at her, and she grinned broadly, nodding.

"Any requests?"

"Surprise me," he shrugged, and he watched as Queenie and Vinda made their way out of the office. As they did, Credence Barebone came walking in, hunched over as he always was. He carefully fingered his wand in his hands, and he bowed his head as Grindelwald shut the door behind him.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Credence mumbled quietly, and Grindelwald confirmed,

"I did. There is a party coming up, a party at a mansion with the intention of fundraising for the movement."

"I'd heard about it," Credence murmured, nodding. He bowed his head more deeply. "Do you… do you want me to go, sir?"

"I expect you to be there, yes." Grindelwald flicked his eyes up and down the boy's form. "Moreover, I expect you to represent me well, Aurelius. You are a part of this movement now. You must be willing and able to stand up straight…"

He wandlessly pulled up Credence's posture until the boy was upright and wide-eyed.

"You must be willing to speak with clear, decisive words," Grindelwald continued, "and you must be willing to dance with young witches. Can you do this? Can you be a part of this movement fully and completely the way my other followers are?"

Credence's cheeks went hot, and he said self-consciously,

"I don't know how to dance, sir. It was forbidden by Mrs Barebone. She said dancing was careless and a waste of energy, and that it was -"

"All right. So you can't dance." Grindelwald rolled his eyes a little. He thought quickly and said, "Go find Queenie and tell her I've told you to learn to dance from her. She'll put music on the phonograph and teach you straight away. Go now; I want you to be competent at the party. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir," Credence said, and he quickly walked out of the office.

* * *

"Oh, you poor thing," said Queenie, pulling herself up to stand off the divan in the parlour. "You weren't even allowed to dance?"

"No. My adoptive mother forbade it," said Aurelius Dumbledore, and he raked his fingers through his oddly cropped black hair. He took a step toward Queenie and announced cautiously, "He said to ask you to teach me. Well. He said to tell you that he'd told me to learn to dance from you."

"Oh, of course!" Queenie went over to the phonograph and carefully selected a record with a number of easy two-steps on it. She put the record on the phonograph and touched the needle to it, and the parlour was suddenly filled with the strains of violin, clarinet, and other sultry instruments. She grinned and walked in her burgundy dress over to Aurelius, and she took his hand. She pulled him into the empty space in the parlour, and she put his right hand on her waist. His cheeks instantly darkened, but she assured him with a giggle,

"It's okay, honey; that's where your hand goes!"

"Okay." Aurelius' fingers shook as they curled around Queenie's narrow waist, and he seemed hesitant to hold her other hand in his. His palm was clammy, Queenie could feel. She gave him a winning, reassuring smile and began to rock to the beat of the music.

"Feel that? One, two. One, two. One, two. One, two. You just kinda sway your hips and shoulders like this, right? Yeah, like that." Queenie laughed a bit as they settled into a rhythm, and Aurelius' face seemed to relax a little bit. He studied her features for a long moment, seeming transfixed by something, and after the song ended, Queenie told him,

"Let's dance the next one, too, okay?"

"Okay." His voice sounded hoarse, and suddenly his thoughts barrelled into her mind.

 _She's really pretty. I didn't realise witches could be so pretty. She's so nice. Sweet. I can see why he loves her. I can see why she's everything to him._

Queenie cleared her throat, feeling a little uncomfortable, and she tried not to read his mind. She just rocked and swayed, and she felt profoundly grateful when she looked over Aurelius' shoulder and saw Grindelwald leaning against the doorjamb of the parlour. He was smirking, looking very self-satisfied, and Queenie grinned at him. He stalked slowly into the parlour and murmured,

"Aurelius, may I cut in?"

"He's still learning, Gellert," Queenie chastised playfully, but Grindelwald assured them,

"He appears to be doing just fine. Please, may I?"

"Oh. Um. Sure?" Aurelius pulled back and Grindelwald smoothly took his place, putting his hand at the small of Queenie's back and lacing his fingers through hers. Her movements were suddenly smooth as he guided her; Aurelius had been jerky and unpractised, but Grindelwald moved like water. She smirked up at him and whispered,

"You interrupted our dance lesson."

"Couldn't help myself," he mumbled. He said over his shoulder, "Well done, Aurelius. You'll be just fine at the party. Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, Miss Goldstein," said Aurelius politely, in a voice trained to use manners at all times. He left the parlour with skittering steps, and once he'd gone, Queenie wondered aloud,

"I thought he liked men."

"Mmm. He certainly appeared to with me," Grindelwald shrugged, and Queenie scoffed a little.

"His mind tells me he also liked witches."

"Well, a lot of people like a lot of things," Grindelwald said dismissively. "What of it? One would have to be blind or very, very exclusive not to find you beautiful."

She rolled her eyes a little as they danced, and she said in a soft tone,

"That awful vision you showed Vinda and me will cast a pall over the party. People won't want to dance after seeing that."

"People _need_ to see that." Grindelwald licked his lip and asserted, "I showed the most horrific weapon ever detonated in a vision in Paris, and it still didn't convince the Aurors. Some people need to see the upcoming horrors in their fullest to comprehend what we are facing, what we are fighting."

"You really think all of that would come to pass if we didn't… um… take our place?" Queenie asked, and Grindelwald nodded vigorously.

"I know it. That is the future we seek to prevent, Queenie, by establishing the rightful and natural order of things. I know I can count on you."

"Always," she murmured softly, holding onto him and staring up into his uneven eyes. "Through flame for you, again and again."

 **Author's Note: So I'm stuck in a hotel room in Chicago waiting out a blizzard, hoping that our flight gets out tomorrow! Eek! Wish me luck. Sooo, in the film, we saw hints of the worst of WWII (including the atomic bomb, destroyed cities, etc.) and it therefore makes sense that he would also see and exploit the possibility of the Holocaust. But we also saw Vinda in the film being pretty bloodthirsty about wanting all the non-Magiques dead, and I tried to be faithful to that here and not sugar-coat her views. This is all pretty deep, heavy stuff, but I'm extrapolating from what JKR gave us in the film, so I hope it resonated. Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!**


	24. Devastatingly Beautiful

"Right, so, we need Vinda to look like a complete knockout," Queenie informed Madame Trousseau, who seemed a little confused. Vinda embarrassedly clarified,

"I would like to look a little more provocative than usual this time, Madame."

"A little sexier," Queenie grinned, and Vinda rolled her eyes.

"I don't know why you are making me do this, Queenie. Showing off my chest is not going to help me win the right sort of man."

"No, but it might get you lots of dances for the night, and my goal for you is a fun party." Queenie was stout and serious as she said this, and she curled a pillow up against her stomach where she sat on Vinda's bed. "I want you to have more fun at this party than anyone's ever had at a political event, Vinda."

"Well. That shouldn't be difficult." Both witches laughed then, and Madame Trousseau reached into her Expanded trunk of dress robes. She pulled out a red silk gown, a halter cut with a low cut-out neckline. She held it up and said,

"I think I have just the thing. Let's try it on, shall we?"

"Oooh. Red." Queenie smirked. "Now that _is_ provocative, coming from you, Vinda. Let's see it on."

Vinda shamelessly stripped down to her slip, and then took that off due to the cut of the gown. She let Madame Trousseau help her into the red silk, which fit her just so. It revealed her lovely back and her arms, and the curves of her breasts. Queenie gasped at how revealing a dress it was. The skirts of it moved easily as Vinda turned away from the mirror and insisted,

"I can not wear this!" Her cheeks were pink, but Queenie demanded,

"Why not? You look gorgeous!"

"I look like a harlot," Vinda bemoaned. Queenie hopped off the bed and headed for the door, and Vinda called,

"Where are you going?"

"To ask Gellert what he thinks of it."

"What?" Vinda sounded shocked. "Why would we ask him?"

"Because I happen to know he thinks you're very pretty, and he'll tell you so." Queenie hopped out of the room and skeddadled downstairs to Grindelwald's office. She knocked hard on the door, and when he opened it for her, she hurried inside and said breathlessly,

"Please, will you come tell Vinda she looks sexy in this gown for the party?"

Grindelwald narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Why would you want me to do that?"

"She needs validation," Queenie said. "I can read in her mind that she appreciates that _I_ think she looks pretty, but she wonders what men will think. So can you tell her how good it looks?"

Grindelwald smirked. "How good does it look?"

"Pretty good." Queenie smiled and reached for Grindelwald's hand, and as he rose and took her fingers in his, he murmured,

"You know, you really are a good friend to her."

"And she's a good friend to me," Queenie shrugged. "I've never had a good friend before. Not really. Not at school, that's for sure. Tina and I had each other, but only because we didn't have anybody else. Nobody wanted to be friends with a Legilimens; nobody wanted their thoughts read all the time. I was the mind-reading freak."

"Things change," Grindelwald noted as they approached Vinda's rooms. Queenie knocked gently on the door and then pushed it open, and when they walked in, Vinda was still standing there in the gorgeous red gown. Grindelwald's eyes went up, and he said smoothly to the humiliated-looking Vinda,

"I think if you wear that, Vinda, the wizards will be falling all over themselves to join our movement. They'll want to join up just to be close to you."

Vinda's eyes watered at that, and Queenie grinned. It was a sweet thing for him to have said, sweeter than just, _You look sexy_. She gripped his hand and asked him,

"She should wear it, don't you think, Gellert?"

"Oh, most assuredly," he nodded, and Vinda turned to Madame Trousseau.

"Well, that's settled, then. I'll wear this one. Queenie, you and I will have to experiment with my hair, _non_?"

"Ooh. Sounds fun." Queenie smiled more broadly than ever, and she touched at her platinum pendant around her neck, the one Grindelwald had given her at Christmas. She had already tried on her gown for the party, but she didn't want to show it to Grindelwald yet. She wanted to keep it a surprise. Vinda smiled a bit at her and nodded.

"Keep it a secret from him until that night," she suggested, and Grindelwald scoffed, sounding slightly wounded.

"What, I don't get to know _all_ the fashion secrets of the Witches of Nurmengard?" he joked. Queenie rolled her eyes and mumbled,

"I think Carrow's wearing a burlap sack."

"Now, now, ladies." There was warning in Grindelwald's voice, and Vinda said quietly,

"I'm sure Carrow will look perfectly lovely, _Monsieur._ "

He tipped his head and shrugged. "She'd be hard-pressed to match that red gown, Vinda. Now, tell me about Queenie's dress."

Vinda and Queenie looked at one another and shook their heads, and Grindelwald threw up his hands.

"Very well. I'll be wearing tuxedo robes, for those interested. Now, if there's nothing else, I have work to do."

"There's nothing else." Queenie released his hand and laughed a little, watching him touch his chest and bow before backing out of Vinda's rooms. Then she and Vinda giggled like madwomen, and Vinda did a happy little twirl in her beautiful red gown.

* * *

He felt like an orchestra conductor tonight, moving the Elder Wand in elegant, smooth motions to direct his custom, judgmental Fiendfyre along the perimeter of Tollnhaus. The Rococo-style mansion had a gaudy collonnade running along the outside, and there were fountains and gardens in the front. Grindelwald worked around all of this, casting his blue flame in curving lines that formed a frontier past which no enemy could enter. Only those true to his cause could come to tonight's party, which was for the best, because tonight's party was for the loyal. It would involve a shocking vision meant only for those most ready to receive it. It would involve asking for money. And it would involve conversations and mingling with the upper crust of his base.

So Grindelwald really did feel like a conductor of music as he whipped his fire about, as he protected his borrowed mansion from ill will. From behind him, he suddenly heard a crack of Apparition and then a familiar voice - Queenie.

"Oh! You're almost done."

"Almost." Grindelwald kept his eyes on the flames until he was through casting them, and when at last his perimeter was complete, he turned round to see Queenie standing a few feet away, and he froze.

She wore a gown of sparkling silver tulle, plunging low in the front and draping elegantly over her shoulders and onto her arms. It was gathered in an almost corset-like fashion over her tiny waist, and then billowed out into full skirts of various shades of grey and silver with accents of black beading. When she took a few steps toward him, the full skirts swished around her legs, moving heavily. Her Deathly Hallows diamond and platinum pendant sat against her breasts, upon which she'd spread some sort of glittery concoction. Her eyelids sparkled with silver and with black liner, and her lips were ruby red. Her golden hair had been smoothed carefully, and she wore a black and silver headpiece that echoed the beading on her skirts.

"Queenie." Grindelwald's mouth fell open, and she shrugged a little.

"Good enough?"

He scoffed loudly. "Rather ridiculously good, if we're all being honest."

"I'm glad." Queenie reached out for his hand, and when he laced his fingers through his, she asked, "Do I still get to walk in on your arm?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He was very serious about that. He and Queenie waited in a side parlour for the ballroom to fill with revelers, and when at last the place was loaded up with those who had come to hear him, Grindelwald laced Queenie's hand through his arm and guided her across the corridor. He pulled her into the ballroom to the sounds of raucous applause, and he held up his left hand and waved a bit. He kissed Queenie's cheek and gently guided her to the front of the crowd, and his chest ached as he watched her arrange herself there. He made his way to the centre of the ballroom and eyed her, thinking she looked profoundly beautiful in her silver tulle gown with her Deathly Hallows pendant, and he sighed. Vinda, who was holding Grindelwald's Seeing Skull, shuffled over to stand beside Queenie, and the two witches smiled at one another. Grindelwald did not miss the way that dozens of wizards' eyes snapped to the two beautiful witches.

"My brother and sister witches and wizards. My friends," said Grindelwald. "Tonight, I have brought you together because it is time for us all to see. To behold. To witness. What, one might ask, is so important to see that we would hold a party in order to behold it? Well… Miss Rosier, if you please."

Vinda came stalking out onto the floor in her red gown, holdiing the skull in her hands. She had shiny red lips just like Queenie, and Grindelwald wondered distantly if they'd used the same lipstick. They probably had, knowing the two of them. For some reason, he liked that they were friends. He liked that they liked one another. It pleased him. He reached for his Seeing Skull and flicked his gaze to where Credence Barebone stood looking awkward in the tuxedo robes Grindelwald had arranged for him to receive. He looked like a fish out of water, but at least he could dance now, Grindelwald thought.

He put the hookah mouthpiece between his lips and inhaled deeply, then blew the smoke out to fill the ballroom. The vision he'd shown Vinda and Queenie played out in the smoke. Uniformed guards on horseback following rows of striped-uniformed, emaciated prisoners. Chopped-haired women suffocating in a chamber. A man being shot by another uniformed Muggle.

There were gasps, murmurs, cries of _Destroy les non-Magiques!_ Grindelwald held his hands up for calm and sent Vinda off to put his skull in the other parlour for safekeeping. He cleared his throat and said seriously,

"My friends. If left unchecked, the non-magical are prone to violence and destruction of the most unfathomable sort. If left to their own devices, they will kill and destroy everything in their path. Can we allow this?"

"No!" cried dozens of voices, and Grindelwald shook his head calmly.

"No. No. We can not allow _les non-Magiques,_ the Can't-Spells, the No-Majs, the Muggles, to kill and destroy themselves and us. Yes. Us. What you saw in the that vision is a part of the war I foretold in Paris. They will wreak that havoc and destruction upon their own kind. And if they will do it to themselves, there is absolutely nothing stopping them from doing it to us. Nothing, my friends, except for _us_ , and our magic. We have an obligation to put a stop to the madness of these people, not by matching their villainy and eradicating them, but by taking our rightful place as the administrative power of humanity. We gifted few do belong at the top, because it is we whose magic civilises us and protects us against the barbarism we have seen in these visions and throughout their history. Who will stand with me? Who will take their place?"

"Me! I will! Yes!" Voices cried out in earnest, and Grindelwald held his hands up again to urge quiet. He nodded and found Queenie's eyes, and she looked emotional. She gave him a reassuring nod, swiping carefully at her lined eye. She really believed in him, Grindelwald thought to himself. She really believed in everything he was preaching. Were the others as genuinely eager as she was? Did they believe the way she did?

"My brother and sister witches and wizards," said Grindelwald carefully, "There are costs and expenses associated with revolution. Change, as much as I wish it did, does not come for free. And so your generosity is greatly appreciated. It is necessary, more than you can comprehend. If you wish to become a sponsor, a patron of our movement, please, kindly speak with my associate _Herr_ Krenn this evening."

He gestured to Krenn, who held up a hand and bowed his head.

"We will be grateful for anything and everything you can give to help us prevent the unfathomable horrors to which we have all borne witness tonight. Together, through effort of all kinds, we can and will create a brighter future for wizardkind. I look forward to crafting this future with all of you… for the Greater Good."

"For the Greater Good!" yelled a hundred voices, and the formally-clad crowd broke into wild applause. People began to flood over to Krenn, which made Grindelwald smirk, and he went over to get himself a glass of Champagne.

"Sir, please know that we will be donating twenty thousand English Galleons tonight," said a voice, and Grindelwald turned to see Noah Carrow, his servant's wealthy British father, standing before him. Grindelwald glanced beside Noah to see the younger Carrow - he could never remember her first name - looking frumpy in a black satin dress. She seemed uneasy, probably because she knew she'd been the real reason Larsen had defected and been executed. Perhaps she'd talked her father into such a large donation. Well, fine. Grindelwald wasn't going to turn it down.

"Thank you very kindly for your generous donation to the cause, Mr Carrow," he said, and he clapped the wizard on the shoulder. "Your funds will serve the greater good."

He spoke with six or seven more eager donors, and then he decided that he wanted to dance. He found Queenie standing alone, eating a macaron, and when he stalked up to her, he asked,

"Where's Vinda?"  
"Dancing." Queenie chewed her pistachio macaron and gestured to the dance floor. Grindelwald scoffed a little when he saw that Vinda was dancing with none other than Klaus Reiner.

"That boy?" he demanded, and Queenie said happily,

"It's their third dance. You know, Reiner wants into the inner circle. Badly."

Grindelwald bristled. "He's a bit sweet on you for me to let him into Nurmengard."

"I think maybe he's sweet on Vinda now," Queenie said. "He understands that I'm yours; he didn't even ask me to dance. He did say he'd give anything to serve you more closely."

"Have you read his mind?" Grindelwald asked, and Queenie nodded eagerly.

"He has nothing but good intentions. I searched hard."

"Hmm." Grindelwald pinched his lips and said, "Go get Aurelius and tell him to dance with Vinda. Send me Klaus Reiner. You and I will dance soon."

"Yes, sir." She rarely called him by the honorific these days; he was _Gellert_ to her most of the time now. But he gladly let her call him _sir_ now, and she walked off first to Credence, and then to Vinda. Grindelwald waited, calmly sipping Champagne, until Klaus Reiner came nervously walking up to him.

" _Hallo, Herr_ Grindelwald," said the young German wizard. "You wanted to see me?"

"I would like you to go to your residence," said Grindelwald, "and pack a suitcase of your clothes and necessities. After tonight's party, you'll be joining our inner circle at Nurmengard Castle in Austria. You'll be serving the movement from there from now on, and you'll be assigned a specific role in the coming days."

Reiner's eyes went round as saucers, and he grinned like a child.

" _Mein Herr._ I am so honoured… I can't even begin to describe my gratitude and joy."

"Good. Go home and pack a bag," said Grindelwald. Klaus Reiner turned over his shoulder and glanced at Vinda Rosier, and Grindelwald suddenly knew what he was wondering. Was Vinda part of the group at Nurmengard? He smirked a little and said,

"She'll see you at the castle. Go, boy."

" _Ja, Herr_ Grindelwald." Reiner snapped to attention and bowed his head before quickly walking out of the ballroom so that he could go outside beyond the blue flame and all the wards and Apparate.

"Now can we dance?" asked Queenie, swishing up to Grindelwald and drinking her own Champagne. He took her drink and his and Vanished them both, and he took her fingers in his hand and gently led her out toward the dance floor. He wrapped her up in his arms and felt the bare skin of her back beneath his palm, her fingers in his, and he murmured,

"You are devastatingly beautiful tonight."

"Thank you," Queenie said, blushing a little. "I feel bad; I've had to turn down eight wizards who wanted to dance with me. But you said I couldn't dance with anyone except for you."

"That's right. You can't." Grindelwald raised his eyebrows. He looked around, as if he'd be able to spot the wizards who had been bold enough to ask for a dance from the witch who had entered on Grindelwald's arm. Didn't they realise that meant she was his?

"Aurelius is lugging Vinda around like she's a dead body," Queenie noted with a little laugh, and Grindelwald glanced behind him to see Credence lurching with poor Vinda, who had a fake smile plastered on her face. He snorted a laugh and turned back to Queenie, and suddenly he imagined that her silver gown was just a few shades lighter, that it was white instead of grey.

Perhaps people didn't realise she was his just because she walked in on his arm. Perhaps they needed more than that to know of how she belonged to him.

"Gellert?" Queenie seemed concerned all of a sudden, and Grindelwald realised he'd stopped dancing. She stared up at him and asked, wide-eyed, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said very firmly, and he pullled her back into the two-step.

 **Author's Note: I wrote this on the airplane, but the airplane had no wi-fi, so it's getting uploaded ex post facto. Haha. Thanks for your patience. I appreicate you reading, and definitely appreciate any and all feedback during my more sporadic updates while on vacation! Thanks!**

 **Tomorrow is my birthday (Eek! 31!) so I will try and get a chapter up, but no promises.**


	25. Filigree

"Where has Aurelius Dumbledore gone?" asked Vinda as she and Queenie walked toward group dinner. "I haven't seen him in several days, since the morning after the party."

"He went to his cottage in the mountains to train in peace," Queenie said. "With the castle so bustling and busy, he gets overwhelmed. Gellert Apparates up there a few times a day to help him train, and Aurelius stays at the cottage. He's happier that way."

"What a strange creature he is," Vinda mused. She paused outside the dining room and whispered, "Will you listen to Klaus Reiner for me tonight? See if he's thinking of me?"

"Vinda, you want me to eavesdrop?" Queenie quirked up half her mouth and one eyebrow, but she drew her wand into four circles and dragged it and then cast her Babel Charm on the entire dining room. Vinda breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

"Thank you. I just… Before I fall for another man, Queenie, I want to know what I'm getting into."

"I understand." Queenie's eyes went wide, and she whispered, "Are you falling for Klaus?"

"Much too early to be speculating about that, don't you think?" Vinda huffed a breath and said softly, "Let's go eat dinner."

The two witches walked into the dining room, and Vinda seemed shocked to see that her name tag was right beside Klaus Reiner's. Well, Queenie wasn't surprised; it was just like Grindelwald to put Vinda and Reiner together. She smirked a little as she sat down at her place to Grindelwald's right and listened to the thoughts Reiner was having.

 _Oh, Vinda's sitting beside me. I mustn't make a fool of myself, not before she even has the chance to get to know me. I must keep things together; I must stay cool and collected._

"Good evening, Mademoiselle Rosier," said Reiner gently as Vinda sat, and she smiled at him.

"Hello, Herr Reiner. How are you finding Nurmengard? And your new position? I hear you and I will be working closely together planning rallies and parties."

"Yes; I've been assigned to the preparations squad," Klaus Reiner said happily. "Our next rally will be in Rome, I am told."

"There will be a great deal of planning needed for the Rome rally," nodded Vinda, sipping at her water. "You and Krenn and I will need to meet, the three of us, within the next day or two to lay out a plan just for the preparations."

"Of course. I am fully on board for whatever capacity you need me, Mademoiselle Rosier," said Reiner earnestly. "I long to serve properly. Fully."

"Good." Vinda smiled again at him, and then they went quiet, for Grindelwald came striding into the room. Everyone rose, including Queenie. She was surprised when Grindelwald entered looking tired, bowed his head and murmured,

"Please do sit."

He promptly took his place at the head of the table, and as soon as he slid his chair in, the first course of mixed greens with marinated onion and vinegar appeared. He stabbed rather aggressively at his food, and those around the table ate with caution, as though being cautious not to upset Grindelwald.

"The rally in Rome will take place in the ancient Colosseum," murmured Vinda to Klaus Reiner, and the two of them resumed their quiet conversation. Queenie peered into Reiner's mind and found nothing but determination to serve the cause, nothing but admiration for Vinda. She was pretty, he thought. Beautiful. And she was very intelligent and very capable. He quite liked her. He was looking forward to serving with her. He couldn't care less about Krenn.

Other thoughts crept into Queenie's mind since she'd cast the Babel Charm.

 _I wonder if something happened with that boy. Grindelwald seems upset._

 _Something's bothering him. I hope he doesn't take it out on us._

 _My throat feels like I'm starting to get sick. I hope I don't spread it to everyone at this table._

Queenie tried to shut the thoughts out, using distraction techniques she'd been practising over the last fifteen years of her life in order to avoid listening to people. She finally turned to Grindelwald, who was angrily cutting into his sliced beef in his main course, and she asked softly,

"Is something the matter?"

"Come to my office after dinner," he replied simply, and Queenie felt her cheeks go hot.

"Have I done something wrong? Sir?"

"You will come to my office after dinner," he snapped again, and she just nodded in silence, turning down to her own plate and using her spoon to scoop some mashed potato.

* * *

Grindelwald paced quickly down the corridor, having been the first one to storm out of the dining room. His leather boots clicked just a little on the marble as he stalked briskly toward his office, but then he heard quick clacking behind him, the _clack-clack-clack_ of a witch's heels running, and he slowly turned round to see Queenie chasing him.

"Wait, please," she said breathlessly, still trotting down the marble way. She suddenly slipped, tripping and dropping her wand, landing awkwardly on a knee, and Grindelwald rushed over to her.

"Oh, _fuck_." She used a word he'd never heard escape her lips, a word that shocked him, but he shouldn't have been surprised. Not with the way she'd managed to twist her knee and slam it down into a painful, contorted position. She gripped at her knee and threw her head back in pain, and Grindelwald crouched beside her. He arranged her legs in silence until they were righted, and he pulled out the Elder Wand. He aimed it at her left knee and murmured gently,

" _Ferula._ "

A tight brace materialised and began to wind itself around her knee, which would be healing from the spell. He dragged his wand along the knee and added,

" _Allevio. Allevio Trio._ "

"Thank you. I'm sorry I fell." Queenie let him help her stand, but when she did, she was still unsteady. He picked up her wand and tucked it into her pocket, letting her lean on him as they walked to his office. Queenie asked nervously,

"You've hardly spoken to me all night, and now you're dragging me off to your office. Please, Gellert, I mean… sir… will you please tell me what's going on?"

"I will. In private." Grindelwald's stomach churned, and he felt an enormous weight in the pocket of his velvet trench coat. He chewed his lip carefully guided Queenie toward his office doors, which he threw open with nonverbal magic. He tucked the Elder Wand away once they were inside and he'd shut the doors. Then he pulled out her chair for her and let her sit, casting a few more spells on her knee to take down swelling and to ensure she wasn't in pain. He sat at his desk and folded his hands on it.

"You had eight wizards ask you to dance at the party," he noted, and Queenie's eyes went wide with horror.

"Please tell me you didn't… you didn't… _kill_ them."

"What? No. Queenie." He touched at his forehead and whispered, "You are _mine_."

"Of course I am," she said softly, but he stared at her and demanded,

"They're meant to be followers of my movement. If they were so very certain you belonged to me in that way, they would not have asked you to dance with them."

"So, what you want me to wear a big sign above my head that says _Property of Gellert Grindelwald - Do not touch or proposition_?" Queenie was joking, but she seemed a little afraid, too. Grindelwald huffed out a breath and mumbled,

"No; I'd like you to wear _this_."

He reached into the pocket of his velvet trench coat and pulled out the ring he'd spent the last two days carefully Conjuring and then perfecting through meticulous spellwork. He set it down on the desk and slid it across toward Queenie, lifting his hands off of it as though it were burning him to touch it.

She stared at it for a long moment. Her eyes went round as saucers and her full lips dropped open in shock. She reached for the ring with very shaky fingers and finally dared to pick it up and examine it. She studied the delicate rose gold filigree, which had the Deathly Hallows symbol in the centre on each side with swirls of gold working their way down from the symbols. There was a single round colourless diamond at the top, along with two triangular pink diamonds cradling the centre stone. It was an abjectly feminine piece, one that fit Queenie's personality perfectly in Grindelwald's opinion. He'd worked very hard on making it for her, and as he watched her begin to cry, he knew she liked it. She slid it onto the fourth finger of her left hand, and she asked quietly,

"You want me to marry you?"

"Yes, I want you to marry me," Grindelwald replied smoothly, "if you please."

Men were meant to get down on one knee and beg women for their hand in marriage, he knew. That was the custom in both Muggle and wizarding communities. But he was Gellert Grindelwald. He didn't beg anyone for anything, including Queenie Goldstein. He wasn't going to start now. Luckily, she didn't seem upset by his lack of contrition and humility. She just stared at the perfectly-fitting ring on her finger and sobbed. She cried harder than he would have expected her to do, in fact, until at last he asked her softly,

"Queenie, what's the matter?"

"He didn't want to marry me because it was illegal," she hiccoughed, gasping for air, and Grindelwald nodded. Jacob, the No-Maj nincompoop. Queenie continued, "Tina didn't want me to marry him; he refused. I put him under a love spell and brought him to England to marry him because it was legal. Newt Scamander took the spell off and Jacob called me crazy. But all I wanted was to be happy. I just wanted a happy life. And I had no idea back then, Gellert - I didn't know that there was you. I didn't know you were out there waiting for me. I didn't know what real happiness even meant."

She was babbling, but he didn't mind. He just reached for her hand and squeezed a little, and when he met her eyes, he smiled a bit. She choked a little laugh and demanded,

"Are you gonna call me crazy, too?"

"No. You are many things, Queenie Goldstein, but crazy is not one of them." He dragged his thumb over hers and stared deeply into her eyes. "Marry me."

"Yes, sir." She swiped at her eyes with her free hand and nodded vigorously. "Yes. These are orders I will very gladly follow. Oh, yes, I will marry you, Gellert Grindelwald."

"All in white?" he asked softly, and she grinned through her tears, nodding.

"All in white."

 **Author's Note: Well, we knew after that party that he wasn't going to be able to keep from proposing for too much longer, right? What do you think of her ring? Rose gold with a round diamond and pink triangular diamonds and the Deathly Hallows symbol in filigree? Perfectly Queenie? I was able to get this written during my son's midday nap today, but I almost certainly won't update again until tomorrow since today is my birthday and we have a very busy day in Disney World planned. Thanks for your understanding and thanks for all the birthday wishes so far! Love to all.**


	26. Dumbledore

Queenie stared at her ring as she sat in the bath tub, her hair stringy and wet from having just been washed. She swiped at her eyes with her right hand. How could she not be emotional? She was getting married, and she couldn't even tell Tina, who was living as a No-Maj in a cottage in Wales with Newt. She sniffled a little and studied her beautiful ring. Grindelwald's symbol was on both sides of the rose gold. The centre diamond glittered, and the two pink diamonds on the sides were beautifully feminine. She loved it. She loved this ring. It was _her_ ring; he'd made it just for her.

"Queenie."

She looked up. He always surprised her, because she could barely feel his mind through his thick shields of Occlumency. It was so comforting, the way his thoughts failed to invade her own mind the way others' did. She blinked at the bathroom doorway to see him standing there, fully clothed down to his boots and up to his trench coat, and he came stalking slowly into her bathroom. He would have locked up her doors, she knew. He always did when he came into her rooms; the two of them together earned privacy that she alone did not.

"Hi." Queenie smiled up at him, knowing she looked a mess with her wet hair, probably with eyeliner smudged around her eyes. He didn't seem to mind. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hello."

"Did you tell him?" Aurelius, she meant, and Grindelwald nodded. He sighed.

"I held a brief meeting and told everyone. No use with rumours and whispers. Vinda already knew. That was obvious. You told her straight away, then?"

"Sorry. Couldn't help it." Queenie chewed her lip, and Grindelwald smirked. He shrugged.

"She didn't seem surprised."

"No. She wasn't as surprised as I was," Queenie said. She sat up a little straighter in the bath and reached to drain it. She asked, "Since they all know, will they… um… will they be there?"

"Are you asking whether Gellert Grindelwald will be married in a public or a private ceremony?" He seemed to consider the idea, and he tipped his head. "It seems incongruous with my movement to be secretive and private about something like this. I've been rather showy about just about everything so far. I think we advertise this and do it in Rome, at the Colosseum."

Queenie's eyes went wide. "In front of _that_ many people? Thousands of people?"

He nodded. "I think the best course of action is to make it as profoundly public as possible. We'll surround ourselves with blue flame for protection on the floor of the Colosseum, but I want those stands filled with every single follower I've got. And I want the news to reach Albus Dumbledore that Gellert Grindelwald is marrying Queenie Goldstein."

* * *

"Queenie!"

"Vinda? What's wrong?" Queenie whirled around as she walked down the corridor of the castle. Vinda came dashing toward her, clutching an envelope in her hands, and Queenie scowled. "What is that?"

"Queenie," Vinda said breathlessly, "This just came for you by long-distance owl. From _England_. I didn't know whether to take it to him or to you first."

Queenie took the envelope from Vinda and immediately recognised Tina's handwriting on the outside.

 _Queenie Goldstein, Nurmengard Castle, Austria_

"Let's go to his office," Queenie said anxiously, and she and Vinda hurried down the flight of stairs and through the corridor until they reached Grindelwald's office. Queenie banged insistently on his door, but there was no answer. She could hear voices murmuring inside, so she knew he was in there. Her stomach churned with impatience, and she banged loudly again.

"Please, Gellert; it's urgent!" she cried, and the voices stopped. There was the sound of footsteps, and Queenie sensed German confused thoughts. Krenn. The door opened manually, and suddenly Grindelwald was standing before her.

"I'm meeting with Krenn," he said, seething a little, flicking his eyes between Vinda and Queenie. She held up the unopened envelope Vinda had brought her and said,

"A letter came, addressed to me, in my sister's handwriting."

A look of bitter realisation came over Grindelwald's face, and he turned to face Krenn.

"I'm afraid we'll have to continue talks about logistics for Rome at a later hour, _Herr_ Krenn. Thank you."

"Of course, _Mein Herr._ " Krenn hurried past Queenie and Vinda, bowing his head to them as he went by. Vinda hesitated, unsure of whether she was wanted or needed in this next meeting, but Queenie beckoned her into the office. Vinda followed Queenie inside, and the two witches sat in chairs opposite Grindelwald as he sank down at his desk and commanded Queenie,

"Open it, then."

She did as he said, her fingers shaking like mad as she tore the envelope and carefully pulled out the letter inside. She cleared her throat and read aloud,

 _My Dear Queenie,_

 _You'll have to explain to Gellert Grindelwald that no memory replacement charm will ever be stronger than the force of Albus Dumbledore's will when he's determined to find and restore Newt Scamander. I'm just lucky I was with Newt. It only took Dumbledore a few days to track us in Wales, and when he found us, he restored our memories quickly. I remember everything - the Norwegian man who told us about the rally in Vienna, the Polyjuice Potion, the way you went running onto that field and dragged Grindelwald straight to us. I remember Nurmengard. I remember you saying you loved that man, that you didn't want Jacob anymore. I remember everything, and so does Newt. He badly misses Pickett. Please, if there is any way of sending or safely delivering Pickett to Newt, I beg you to do so. Please._

 _I forgive you, Queenie, for everything that has happened so far. But when Albus Dumbledore told me this morning that he'd received word of your engagement to Gellert Grindelwald, I'll admit… I cried like a baby. I always wanted you to get married, to be a beautiful bride. But I wanted to be happy for you about it. With Jacob, I was frightened for you… nothing like this. I fear for your very life, Queenie. I fear for your soul. I fear for who you have allowed yourself to become and who you will be._

 _Please do not marry this man. Dumbledore is absolutely devastated over the news. He was shaking and inconsolable about it. I think he knows you are lost, Queenie, just like I fear you are lost. Please come back to us. It is never too late. Please give my sweet Newt back his Pickett. Just send him safely to the Ministry; they'll know how to get him to Newt._

 _Queenie, I've always wanted your happiness, but right now it seems like your happiness comes at the expense of others'. I ask you to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask whether you are actually acting in any sort of good - greater or otherwise. You know I love you and I always will. Please do not marry this man._

 _Your sister forever,_

 _Tina_

"Albus Dumbledore is the supreme enemy," Vinda hissed. "I was incredibly careful wiping and replacing their memories and placing them in a very remote part of Wales. For Dumbledore to find them so quickly and just…" She snapped her fingers and scoffed. "How dare he?"

"The man has absolutely no shame, and I'm sure once Newt Scamander was noticed missing, Albus Dumbledore put every ounce of his strength into finding him," Grindelwald said smoothly. "Tina's right; she just happened to be with him. Vinda, will you kindly excuse us?"

"Of course." Vinda quickly rose from her chair and turned to walk right out of the office, her heels clicking on the floor as she went. Queenie listened to the office door open and shut with Vinda, and she sighed once she and Grindelwald were alone. Her eyes watered.

"She knows," she whispered. "Tina knows. She remembers everything. How did Dumbledore -"

"Albus Dumbledore is a very powerful wizard, Queenie." Grindelwald sounded almost impatient. "Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't try some trick to attend our wedding without me knowing."

"Why would he do that?" Queenie narrowed her eyes, supremely confused, but Grindelwald scoffed softly and looked out the window. He licked his lip and said quietly,

"Let's just say that I'm sure Albus was _very_ surprised to learn that I had proposed marriage to a beautiful young witch."

Queenie's brows knitted together in consternation. She didn't understand Grindelwald's relationship with Dumbledore at all, she thought. She sucked hard on her lip and asked him,

"Have you had any visions in your skull about us? About the wedding?"

"As it so happens, I have." Grindelwald nodded crisply. "I was discussing the matter with Krenn. I saw you and I standing surrounded by blue flame, with Vinda officiating the handfasting."

"Vinda," breathed Queenie, and Grindelwald continued,

"There were several thousand followers gathered in the Colosseum. Perhaps ten thousand. Probably everyone who adheres to our movement. And you… you looked like a dream."

"I did?" Queenie smiled weakly, and he smirked at her. He sighed.

"The amount of security needed will be unprecedented. People like your sister, like Theseus Scamander, may try to come and break it up or interrupt it. They may try to come just to ogle it. We can't put flame around the outside; we need to let the curious come and watch Gellert Grindelwald get married. So security will be a top priority like never before."

"And if Tina comes?" Queenie asked cautiously. Grindelwald tipped his head.

"Then your sister sees you get married. Work with Madame Trousseau. I'm not showing you the vision; I want you to design the gown you want in your mind."

Queenie had a sudden mental image of a gown constructed of white and gold lace cut in a V, draping over her arms. Beneath it would be white chiffon, which would continue into tiered white chiffon skirts that would go into a long train. Her vein would be the same white and gold lace as her bodice. Could Madame Trousseau craft something like that, she wondered? She huffed a breath and marveled,

"I'm getting married. To you."

"So you are." Grindelwald drummed his fingers. "I hope you realise that it is not my aim to turn our wedding into a rally or a spectacle, Queenie, but there are certain tones that need to be upheld, and some little ceremony here at Nurmengard with a public announcement wouldn't be fitting. Not for Gellert Grindelwald."

"No. I understand." Queenie felt a quiver of nervousness at the idea of getting married in front of thousands of people, but for some reason the idea of his blue flame surrounding them as they wed comforted her. She would marry him inside the blue fire that she'd crossed when she'd promised herself to him for the first time. That would feel good, she thought. She asked him,

"Should I let Vinda know that she's officiating a wedding?"

"Yes, I suppose you'd best do that." Grindelwald glanced out the window again at the dark clouds that were forming. "Storm's coming in. That owl was lucky to fly in before these clouds firmed up."

"I still can't believe Dumbledore," grumbled Queenie, though for some reason a small part of her was secretly emotional about the fact that her sister at least _knew_ she was getting married. Grindelwald seemed to read her feelings without reading her mind, and he said,

"It is only natural that you would feel some small measure of happiness at her memory being restored, Queenie. She is, after all, your sister, even after all that's happened. Even after all the ill will she bears you. Even after all the wickedness she has committed. Even after all the unhappiness she wishes upon you."

"She says she wants me happy," Queenie insisted, but Grindelwald frowned, looked confused, and said,

"If she had really wanted you happy in New York, she'd have quit her job as an Auror and fought with you against the injustice of the law barring intermarriage. No? Or she'd have told you, at the very least, that she wouldn't turn you in. If she'd wanted you happy in Paris, she would have accepted that your joining my movement was the result of you _unhappiness_ , and she would have wished you all the best. Instead, she repeatedly captured you, attempted to sway you back to her philosophy, used Polyjuice Potion in an attempt to kidnap you, and wrote you a letter telling you not to marry the man who adores you."

There was silence then as Queenie gulped and realised her sister didn't want her to be happy, after all. Grindelwald reached for Queenie's hand and pet her fingers gently. He said in a soft voice,

"You do know how I adore you?"

She nodded and stared into his uneven eyes, his frosty one and his much darker one. She dragged her teeth over her lip and suggested,

"Maybe we should invite them."

"Invite them?" Grindelwald sounded very surprised, and Queenie nodded as she clarified,

"If we're expecting them, they can't be a security threat. Nothing they could do, no one they could bring, could surprise our security forces. So we send them an invitation cordially inviting them to the wedding. If they ignore it, then, fine… we're enemies. If they come, maybe we're still enemies, but at least she can't try to do anything in Rome like she did in Vienna. We'll know she's coming, or we'll know to expect her."

"What a perfectly brilliant plan," smirked Grindelwald. He flicked his eyes out the window as ice began to lash the glass. "You'll have to wait to get an owl out. Now, go talk to Vinda. And then go wait for me in your rooms. I have every intention of peeling that dress off of you and doing some rather… obscene… things to you. It's been quite a day. Dismissed."

 **Author's Note: Managed to get one more chapter up on my birthday writing late at night here! Woo hoo! I had an EXCELLENT birthday here in Disney World, and wanted to say thank you very kindly for all the birthday wishes. So, will Tina and Newt actually take the bait and come to the Colosseum for this Wedding Extravaganza? Who's surprised to hear of Dumbledore's reaction? And who's surprised that Grindelwald has to basically have a rally with all his followers for his wedding? Ha. Thanks as always for reading. Please do leave a review if you get a moment.**


	27. Jealous

" _Colloportus._ " Grindelwald locked Queenie's door, aiming his knobby wand at it, and he quickly walked through her sitting room and into her bedroom. He froze at the doorway, for she was already naked, and the sight surprised him. She was reclining back on the pillows in her bed, and Grindelwald sucked in air hard through his nostrils at the sight of her there, reclining and beautiful.

She had absolutely perfect breasts, he thought. They were small but round and lovely, with pert pink nipples that eagerly came to life when she was excited. Her stomach was smooth and flat and pale. She had a little thatch of golden hair between her legs, and she had narrow, shapely thighs. He liked the look of her. That was for certain. He gulped and licked his lip, shucking his velvet trench coat and going to work on his waistcoat. Queenie smiled at him a little from the bed and began to fiddle with her engagement ring.

"I'm nervous about how many people there will be watching us in Rome," she mused, but he shook his head and insisted,

"It is very important that we let all of them see."

"You're right, of course," she said with a little sigh. She blinked a few times and asked, "With what authority will we be registering the marriage?"

Grindelwald scoffed, tearing off his white dress shirt and tossing it aside. He began to unbutton his embroidered, leather-accented trousers, and he told her,

"We will be registering the marriage under _my_ authority. Under the authority of Gellert Grindelwald and the Greater Good. And that will be authority enough."

"It will?" Queenie seemed uncertain, but Grindelwald tipped his head and demanded,

"Do you need a greater authority, Queenie?"

She stared right at him and shook her head vigorously. "No, sir."

"Mmm. I like when you call me that, sometimes." He narrowed his eyes at her and shoved his trousers down. He kicked his boots off and pushed his trousers away with a shove of his foot, and then he stalked naked to the bed and climbed up, a predator stalking prey. He moved until he was on top of Queenie, and then he reached for her wrists and pinned them above her head. She gasped a little, but he purred down at her,

"You call me _Gellert_ a lot these days, and I don't mind one bit, but I do like when you call me _sir_ sometimes, hmm?"

"Yes, sir." Queenie whispered the words, staring up at him with wide eyes and nodding. She was stretched like this, with her arms pinned above her head, and so her breasts had moved a little, and they were distracting. Tempting. Grindelwald bent down and wrapped his mouth around one of her nipples, suckling hard upon it until she squealed. He sucked and sucked until Queenie squirmed beneath him, unable to wrench her wrists from his grasp. He finally released her breast and moved his mouth to hers, and she gasped as he kissed her hard. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, and she whimpered. He used his knee to part her legs, and he instantly felt on his thigh how wet she was. Soaking wet. She wanted this.

"Queenie." He squeezed her wrists more tightly and moved his mouth to her neck, kissing and lapping and sucking there for a few minutes as she moaned and then panted desperately. She ground herself against his leg, driving her clit in strokes along his knee and thigh as he used his tongue to massage the place beneath her ear. After a few moments, she cried out rather loudly, and her wrists went limp beneath Grindelwald's rough grip. He let up the pressure on her and kissed her mouth again, and then suddenly he was aware that she was coming, that his kissing her neck and her grinding on his leg had driven her straight to the edge in what felt like no time flat. She seemed just as shocked, moaning loudly and squealing a little into his kiss. When at last he broke away, she whispered,

"Sorry, sir; I dunno what came over me."

"Don't you ever apologise for _that_." He smirked down at her, releasing her wrists at last, and she rolled them out, reaching up to stroke with her fingernails at his short-cropped hair. He took the opportunity to push himself straight into her body, to drive himself right between her legs. Perhaps he'd had something more scandalous in mind for tonight, he thought. Perhaps he'd thought of her riding him, or him spanking her backside as he pounded her from behind. But, somehow, this felt right. Her wonderful scalp massage during strokes through which her body encased and embraced him felt right. He moved slowly, not wanting to come too quickly, and so it seemed to go on for a long while. He didn't mind the repetitive feeling. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and he just stroked, filling her and leaving her, filling her and leaving her. She was warm and wet and tight, and her hands were wondrous on his head, and her eyes were positively gorgeous. Finally he felt everything start to go hot and tight, and he whispered,

"I do too many things these days for love, Queenie, but it can't be helped, can it?"

"I'm sorry, sir."

"No. Don't ever apologise for this," he huffed, and he touched his forehead to hers as he gritted his teeth and let out a seething breath, coming hard. He groaned, feeling white-hot pleasure rush through his veins as his come pumped into Queenie. He finally lay beside her, ignoring the mess he'd made, and pulled her up against him.

"Gellert?" Queenie asked tentatively, seeming unsure of whether he still wanted to be called _sir_.

"Hmm." Grindelwald shut his eyes and kissed the top of her head. Queenie murmured,

"In your vision, did my gown have white and gold lace?"

He was quiet for a moment. He remembered the way she'd looked in the vision - white and gold lace draped over her shoulders in a neatly tailored V that gave way to tiered chiffon skirts, and a white and gold lace veil. He scoffed gently and nodded.

"Yes." He opened his eyes. "Yes. Lots of white and gold lace."

"Oh, good." Queenie sounded very content at that, and he curled up half his mouth as he flicked his eyes down to her and said again,

"You looked like a dream."

"Like a vision?" she teased, and he rolled his eyes.

"You'll likely make thousands of witches… and wizards… very jealous by marrying the famous Gellert Grindelwald," he said, "but, then, I'm sure I'll make thousands jealous by marrying you."

"Hardly." She kissed his chest and asked gravely, "Are you sure you're not making a terrible mistake?"

"I am quite certain." Grindelwald kissed at her engagement ring. And he was certain, he thought. He had no reservations about marrying Queenie Goldstein. His only mental hold-up was a wizard in Britain, and wondering what that wizard must be thinking right now.

And it annoyed Gellert Grindelwald to no end that he actually cared what Albus Dumbledore thought of him marrying Queenie Goldstein.

But he was going to do it, for his own happiness and success, Dumbledore be damned.

* * *

 _My Dear Queenie,_

 _Your wedding invitation was the most beautiful I have ever seen. I admit I am intimidated by the idea of a marriage ceremony taking place in the Colosseum in Rome._

 _Yes, I will be at my sister's wedding. No, I will not be bringing Aurors for a raid. It is not illegal to hear Gellert Grindelwald give a speech, after all, and this isn't a speech. It's a wedding. It certainly isn't illegal to attend the wedding of Gellert Grindelwald, no matter how you feel about his politics. So, I will be there. With Newt. We won't be bringing Aurors._

 _Thank you for sending Pickett safely back to the Ministry. Newt was incredibly happy to be reunited with him. Pickett has expressed in his own way to Newt that he was treated well at Nurmengard. We are grateful._

 _I only want you to be safe and happy, Queenie. This man is not who I want for you. This life you have chosen is not the path I want for you. I despise the politics with which you have aligned yourself. And I am terrified for you. But you are my baby sister, and this is your wedding, and so whether it's in a small Ministry room or the Colosseum in Rome, I will be there. I must be there. I am your sister._

 _Glance up to the stands and you'll see me there, sis. Somewhere among the throng, standing with Newt, watching in fear, wishing things were different. But we will come in peace. I promise you that. I love you forever and ever._

 _Tina_

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the mini-chapter today, but I'm busy on vacation! So Tina's planning on attending and promises to come in peace. Will the rest of the Auror force share her views? And WILL DUMBLEDORE SHOW UP? Next chapter is ThE aCtUaL wEdDiNG, so get hype! Haha. Thanks as always for reading, and please, please do review if you can spare a moment.**


	28. Colosseum

Rome was warm, at least compared to the mountains of Austria, and as bustling as New York had been. Perhaps, Queenie pondered, it was even a little more chaotic, a little crazier around the edges. She liked it. Grindelwald's private residence in Rome was a palatial villa with corridors that opened into a beautiful courtyard with two stone fountains and a marble statue of a veiled woman. The villa was full of painted frescoes that had been enchanted to move, with tile mosaics that shifted every now and then. It was a palace full of magic, and Queenie loved it just as much as she loved the psychotic city outside its walls.

Today, on the afternoon of her wedding to Gellert Grindelwald, she stood in the parlour of the rooms she had been given here, at least until tonight, when she would move into Grindelwald's suite. She stared at herself in the full-length gilded mirror and huffed a shaking breath.

Madame Trousseau had made Queenie's vision come to life perfectly. Her gown was crafted of beautiful white chiffon in four asymmetrical tiered skirts that made her look like a Grecian goddess. The underbodice was white chiffon, too, strapless and simple. Covering it were two very wide strips of lace in a V shape, one going over each shoulder. The lace was white and gold threaded together, angelic-looking. Queenie wore her pendant that Grindelwald had given her - the diamond and platinum one that was his symbol. On her head she wore a crown-like headpiece of platinum and gold that Grindelwald himself had crafted for her a few days earlier to tie her necklace together with the lace. Attached to the headpiece was a veil of the delicate gold and white lace, falling down her back and going all the way to the length of the skirts' substantial train. Queenie carried a bouquet of peach roses with stephanotis and pearls.

Now she studied her reflection, and she truly did see a bride. She didn't just see a Legilimens. She didn't see a witch who had defected from her sister and her No-Maj boyfriend. She saw a bride. Today, that was who she was. She was the bride of Gellert Grindelwald.

"Come in!" she called, for there was gentle knocking on her parlour door. The heavy door creaked open, and Vinda Rosier came walking in. She wore a calf-length frock coat in dark green tweed, looking at once serious and beautiful. She had on black leather boots and black satin gloves, and her pointed green hat had a black accent. Her look echoed the fact that today her role was very solemn. She was officiating the ceremony, the handfasting, the wedding between Gellert Grindelwald and Queenie Goldstein. Vinda seemed mildly nervous as she shut the door and stalked toward Queenie.

"You look so beautiful I could cry," she declared, and Queenie blinked a few times, trying to control herself. She'd waterproofed her own makeup, but she still felt like she was going to lose control. She shrugged and asked helplessly,

"What if he gets cold feet?"

"Cold feet?" Vinda, being French, obviously did not understand the idiom. Queenie clarified,

"What if he decides at the last minute that he doesn't want to marry me?"

Vinda tipped her head and frowned. "This is the last minute," she pointed out. "We are about to Apparate to the Colosseum. And I have just come from speaking with him to finalise the logistics of getting safely into the stadium."

"You just talked to him?" Queenie stared at Vinda in the mirror. "What did he say?"

Vinda put her hand onto Queenie's shoulder and gave her friend a reassuring smile. "He said that today is the most important day of his life, and it is vitally important that everything go according to plan. He also told me, as the officiant, to be certain to get the handfasting right, because of how deeply he loves you."

"He said that?" Queenie turned around slowly, her train pulling with her. Vinda sighed and said,

"He told me, ' _You know I love her more than life itself, Vinda, so get it right, will you?'_ "

Queenie's eyes burned. She stared down at her beautiful peach roses, which felt so very lovely just this moment, and she felt her cheeks flush hot.

"When do we go?"

"He is there now," Vinda said, "casting blue flame around the perimeter of the Colosseum's arena floor. You and I will Apparate to a place called Gladiator's Gate in the Colosseum. Think Gladiator's Gate. When we get there, I will pass through the flame, and he will make an announcement that the ceremony is about to begin. Then you will enter through the flames. He will be waiting for you on the other side."

"No one will escort me." Queenie was a little confused, but Vinda clarified,

"This is an ancient handfasting. The bride walks straight to the groom, who awaits her. I will take your flowers for you when you reach him, and then the handfasting will occur. Try not to pay attention to the people in the stands."

"The thousands of people in the stands, including my sister." Queenie shut her eyes, and her stomach suddenly turned. She gulped. "Right. Okay. Gladiator's Gate. When do we go?"

Vinda rubbed at Queenie's shoulder a little and whispered, "Now."

* * *

"My brother and sister witches and wizards," said Grindelwald, pacing inside the enormous semi-circle of protective blue flame he'd cast. The sun was going down, setting the Colosseum aglow, putting a ghostly blue wash on his own body, and he sighed before he called out, "You have all been kind enough to gather with me on what is, without a doubt, the single most important and beautiful days of my existence. For that, I am eternally grateful, friends."

A round of applause made its way around the Colosseum. At least ten thousand witches and wizards from all over Europe had gathered. Whether they were abjectly loyal to Gellert Grindelwald's cause, curious to see him get married, or enemies who were hoping to do him harm, they had come. Grindelwald scanned the crowd, looking for familiar faces, and suddenly he froze.

Albus Dumbledore.

Years had passed since last they'd seen one another, and both of them had aged tremendously, but he knew well what Dumbledore looked like. He locked eyes for a moment with Albus, who was wearing a trim-looking fedora. Albus tipped his hat and nodded, and Grindelwald cleared his throat. He paced around to the other side of the arena and spoke to the opposite side of the crowd.

"Many of you have not yet had the opportunity to hear us speak about our movement toward the greater good. I encourage you to join us on a less momentous occasion for a discussion about our specific goals and how we mean to achieve them. We welcome the talents and intentions of all who desire the best for the wizarding world. But now, my friends, it is time for me to welcome my bride and make her my wife for all time."

He turned back to the other side of the crowd, and he eyed Dumbledore again. Albus Dumbledore had a strange look on his face, as though someone unseen were yanking roughly on his arm. Grindelwald stared directly at Dumbledore, narrowed his eyes and said quite intently to the crowd,

"I wish it to be known that Queenie Goldstein is without question the most abjectly perfect witch I could have ever hoped to marry, and I consider myself the luckiest wizard on Earth to have met her, brought her into our movement, fallen in love with her, and had the good fortune of receiving a ' _yes_ ' to my proposition of marriage. I know that she will bring my life nothing but happiness in the years to come, and I shall try very hard to give her all the happiness she deserves. I adore her, nothing more, nothing less. And now, I shall marry her. Queenie, please come forth from Gladiator's Gate!"  
He turned away from Dumbledore then, leaving behind the boy who had pined after him, the boy who had kissed him and been sweaty in his arms. He left behind that boy and turned toward the woman who was his future. He stalked over toward Vinda in his tuxedo robes, knowing there were twenty thousand eyes on him as he did. He waited beside Vinda and watched as Queenie appeared on the other side of the flames.

She was a dream.

She looked positively gorgeous in her gown, in her veil, holding her roses. His Deathly Hallows pendant sat at her collarbone, and it sparkled in the light of the flames. She stepped through the fire slowly, the blue flame licking at her bridal gown, and suddenly Grindelwald thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life. His bride, his Queenie, striding through flame for him, coming through fire to him. He shut his eyes and felt his heart race, and he clenched his hands together before him. He opened his eyes to see Queenie on his side of the flames at last, her dress trailing behind her. She grinned her slightly manic smile, looking giddy. She glanced nervously around the Colosseum, and then she found his eyes again. She giggled a little as she approached him, and Vinda took her roses.

"You really do look like a dream," he murmured, softly enough that only she could hear. He'd taken his Amplification Charm off for a moment, so that he could talk to her. She whispered back to him,

"This is insane, Gellert, what we're doing!"

"I think it's perfect," he smirked, and she sighed shakily.

"It is perfect."

Grindelwald Amplified his voice, Vinda's, and Queenie's then, and Vinda carefully set the flowers on a nearby low table that she'd Conjured. Queenie pulled her wand out from her gown's pocket, and Vinda took her own wand out. Grindelwald pulled out the Elder Wand, and Vinda began rather stiffly,

"A handfasting is the joining of two magical souls in the union of marriage. Do you, Gellert Grindelwald, agree to be joined forever in marriage to this witch?"

"I agree," Grindelwald said instantly. He flicked his eyes up to Dumbledore, who was watching calmly, if looking a little pained, from the tenth row. Suddenly Grindelwald spotted Tina and Newt, seated very close to Dumbledore, along with a few other figures from England - Nagini, for one. But he didn't see any Auror force come to raid him. Tina and Newt looked very anxious. Tina was clutching at Newt's hands, crying, and Newt was staring off into the sunset while chomping his lip.

"Do you, Queenie Grindelwald, agree to be joined forever in marriage to this wizard?" Vinda was asking Queenie, who of course agreed. Then Vinda read an old, solemn reading about the importance of love and understanding in marriage, and she called on everyone in the stands to hold their wands illuminated to wish good fortune on the couple that was about to be fasted together.

" _Lumos._ " The spell was murmured ten thousand times over, and little glowing lights appeared all over the Colosseum. The glowing wands went up and were held for a solid minute, and it felt so majestic that Grindelwald shivered a little. He stared at Queenie, at her beautiful face, and he wanted nothing more than for her to be _his_ in absolutely every single way, forever. This was right, he thought, what was happening now.

"Thank you," said Vinda, and then ten thousand voices muttered, " _Nox_ ," and put their wands away. Vinda continued with the ceremony.

"Gellert Grindelwald," she said, "Do you promise to protect this witch, to love and cherish her in every way, through good health and sickness, through poverty and good fortune, through difficulty and ease? Do you promise to adore her more each day than the last?"

"I do." Grindelwald said the words fluidly, for he meant them, and he stared right into Queenie's wide eyes as he spoke them. Her eyes went wider than ever as Vinda asked,

"Queenie Goldstein, do you promise to honor this wizard, to love and cherish him in every way, through good health and sickness, through poverty and good fortune, through difficulty and ease? Do you promise to adore him more each day than the last?"

"Oh, I do." Queenie nodded vigorously, and she started to cry. Grindelwald tipped his head and smirked, reaching to brush her tears away with his knuckles. She gave him an apologetic look, but he just shook his head and smiled a little. Vinda reached into her pocket and pulled out a black velvet ribbon, about two inches thick and quite long. She said,

"Please join your right hands together and aim your wands at them. As I wrap your hands in this ribbon, each of you incant the spell _Ligo Necto_ three times."

She began to wind the velvet ribbon around their joined hands, and Grindelwald aimed the Elder Wand at where he'd taken hold of Queenie, and he incanted firmly,

" _Ligo Necto. Ligo Necto. Ligo Necto._ "

Queenie did the same, and then, once she'd finished tying the ribbon, Vinda aimed her own wand at the binding and incanted the spell three times herself. She then pronounced,

"What has been bound together can never be fully unraveled. Let your magic unite in love and harmony; let your marriage be one of pure joy. Under the authority of Gellert Grindelwald himself, I bind Gellert Grindelwald and Queenie Goldstein Grindelwald in marriage. Let them be bound now and forever. _Ligo Necto. Ligo Necto. Ligo Necto._ "

She unraveled the tie and held it up for the crowd, who applauded and cheered raucously. Vinda handed the tie to Grindelwald, bowing her head respectfully. He folded it carefully and tucked it into his tuxedo jacket, and he took Queenie's face in his hands. In the glow of the blue flame he'd Conjured, he bent to kiss her, and he held the kiss for long enough that the cheers turned into screams of approval. He felt her smile against him, and then at last he pulled away from her and hissed low enough for only her to hear,

"Queenie Grindelwald. Hmm."

"I like it," she whispered.

There would be a ball tonight, an event for four hundred lucky invited followers. Dumbledore had _not_ been invited, and neither had Tina or Newt. But Queenie did not seem bothered by her sister's presence in the stands, and Grindelwald didn't even know if she'd noticed Dumbledore. He would have to approach all three of them immediately after the ceremony for security purposes, but for now he told Queenie,

"Go get ready for the party. I'll meet you back at the villa. Disapparate from Gladiator's Gate. I love you."

"I love you, too," she mumbled against his mouth, and he kissed her again to the sound of enormous cheers. He laughed a little and kissed her a third time, earning more cheers, but then he pulled back and smirked at her. He nodded, and as she took her flowers gratefully from Vinda, glancing toward the blue fire through which she'd have to walk again, she turned to him. Looking resplendent in her bridal gown, and now his _wife_ , she nodded and reassured him,

"Through flame over and over for you, Gellert."

Then she turned and walked rather majestically through his sapphire flames, Disapparating on the other side. The people in the stands were still cheering maniacally, so Grindelwald held his hand to his chest and bowed his head to thank them. He raised his head and stared at Dumbledore, who was clapping slowly, his face quite serious. Grindelwald gulped. There was no escaping it, he thought. He was going to wind up speaking face-to-face with Albus Dumbledore tonight.

 **Author's Note: Whew! They're married! In very dramatic, Grindelwald-esque fashion! But Dumbledore is there, and so are Tina and Newt! And Nagini! What happens next?! Thanks as always for reading and a MASSIVE thank you for reviewing.**


	29. Albus

"Albus."

Grindelwald found him under an olive tree outside his villa, far away from the fray of the wedding. He'd Apparated back to the villa after the wedding, expecting that Dumbledore would come to his home. He didn't exactly want to speak with Dumbledore in the midst of ten thousand followers outside the Colosseum, anyway. So here they were, with Grindelwald in tuxedo robes, approaching the smartly-dressed Albus Dumbledore, who stood beneath the olive tree with his hands in his jacket pocket.

"I suppose congratulations are in order, Gellert," said Dumbledore as Grindelwald approached, "though I can't say I am pleased with the way you've lured her to your… side."

"She came to me of her own volition in Paris, Albus," Grindelwald said smoothly, fingering the Elder Wand carefully, "and she fell in love with me genuinely."

"And you with her?" Dumbledore raised his brows. "Do you actually love that girl, Gellert, or are you just using her like you use everyone else?"

Grindelwald tipped his head and licked his lip. He smirked a little and asked softly, "Jealous?"

"No." Dumbledore swallowed hard. He narrowed his eyes. "Tina Goldstein was devastated when I returned her memories to her. You Obliviated her, what… as some sort of act of mercy?"

"She and Scamander were alive and well when you found them. You're welcome," Grindelwald said simply. "Things could have gone very differently after a British Auror showed up at my rally in full Polyjuice disguise with the intention of kidnapping my fiancée."

"Tina's just been trying to get her sister back, Gellert; she can see now that it's too late. Once you have hold of someone, you don't let go. I told her that."

"You were the one who told me to fight for the Greater Good, Albus, and for that advice I will always thank you. That is precisely what I am doing. I am fighting for the Greater Good." Grindelwald took another step toward Dumbledore. "When at last my vision for the future is realised, and the natural order of things is put into place, witches and wizards will live in harmony and in unity, and even the non-magical will be safe. Why would you fight against me, Albus? You know what future I seek, and you fought for it too, once."

Dumbledore was silent for a long moment, and then he asked gently,

"Where is your amulet? The blood pact amulet?"

Grindelwald scoffed. "You have it, I'm sure. It was stolen in Paris, on your orders, no doubt."

Dumbledore scratched at his hair beneath his fedora. He cleared his throat. "Even without it, you can not move against me. The pact is binding."

"So it is. You can not move against me, either, Albus," Grindelwald noted lightly, "so here we are, standing beneath an olive tree on my wedding day."

"Does she make you happy, Gellert?" Albus asked meaningfully, and suddenly the other wizard's pale eyes sparkled strangely. Grindelwald smiled a little and nodded.

"Very much so. She makes me feel happier than I have ever been in my life. Ever."

 _Including that summer,_ he meant to say, but Dumbledore got the message. He blinked a few times and whispered,

"Good. I'm glad you're happy."

"Are you?" Grindelwald laughed a little and nodded, staring at Dumbledore in disbelief. This man had loved him, to be certain, but he also presumably wanted him dead. Now he wanted him happy. Albus was a complex man, Grindelwald thought. He dragged his fingers over his hair and flicked his eyes up to the villa.

"There's a party," he noted, "and she's waiting for me."

"Of course. I wouldn't want to keep you," Dumbledore said, sticking his hands back into his pockets. "I wish you would stop all of this madness of yours, Gellert, but I also know that today is not the day you'll be convinced to do that. So instead, today, I shall restrain myself from evangelising the idea of stopping your politicking. Instead I shall restrain myself to congratulating you, and wishing you nothing but happiness, with all the hope that your marriage is truly one of mutual love and contentment."

"You always had a way with words, Albus." Gellert approached the other wizard and reached to put his hand on Dumbledore's shoulder. He stared into Dumbledore's pale eyes and whispered, "Get out of Rome. I may not be able to kill you, but my associates can, and if you think I will leave you alive, you are out of your mind."

Then he stalked away, toward the villa, and when he reached the wrought iron gate, he glanced back to see that Albus Dumbledore had already Disapparated.

* * *

"Is it all bustled, Vinda?" Queenie asked, and Vinda, who had changed into an emerald green silk gown, confirmed,

"Yes. The train is pulled up perfectly so you'll be able to dance. Shall I dance with Klaus tonight?"

"Ooh. Yes. Dance with him over and over," giggled Queenie, adjusting her golden and platinum crown on her head. She'd taken off her veil, and she and Vinda had neatened her curls. Behind Queenie, the heavy door creaked open, and Grindelwald appeared in his tuxedo robes. He smirked a little as Vinda bowed her head, and he told Queenie,

"You look magnificent. Ready to go? Vinda, go on ahead; we'll make our grand entrance announced by Krenn."

The ball was happening in Palazzo Ossani, an opulent No-Maj palace with eight bedrooms and a ballroom to accommodate the hundreds of revelers who had been lucky enough to snag an enchanted invitation. Vinda Disapparated from the place where she was standing on Grindelwald's orders, and Queenie figured she's see her at the Palazzo Ossani. She was left alone with Grindelwald, who asked her,

"Did you see your sister?"

"I saw her in the stands," Queenie nodded. "I didn't talk to her. I'm not sure what I'd have to say to her today."

"Hmm. I spoke with Dumbledore," Grindelwald informed her. She stared at him, wide-eyed.

"What did he say?"

"It's complicated." Grindelwald tipped his head. "It was a lot of banter. Nothing substantial. He asked if you make me happy."

Queenie stared right at him. "And do I?"  
"Yes, you do, and I told him so."

Queenie huffed. "All during the wedding, I was trying so hard not to listen. Ten thousand minds thinking about me. It was hard not to hear."

"What were they thinking?" Grindelwald asked calmly, and Queenie told him with a little smile,

"Most of them were thinking that I looked really pretty. A lot of the witches were jealous. A lot of the wizards were jealous. Of both of us. People were happy for us. People were amazed by you."

"Hmm." Grindelwald reached for her hand and took it gently. He murmured softly, "Ready for our grand entrance?"

They Disapparated then, and when they came to, they were standing in the interior corridor of a beautiful palazzo. There was a loud buzz from the ballroom to their right - the partygoers. Krenn was standing outside the ballroom door, and Grindelwald nodded at him. Krenn smiled and went into the ballroom, and he cried out in an Amplified voice in English,

"It is my duty and pleasure to bring to you, for the very first time, Gellert and Queenie Grindelwald! Please greet the bride and groom."

A loud roar of approval went up, and as Queenie took Grindelwald's hand and he led her through the ballroom door, the cheers only grew louder. She grinned widely, feeling her heart race as she looked around the ballroom full of people who followed Grindelwald - her _husband_. He stopped them and kissed her hard, and people roared again. They liked when he kissed her, she noticed; they'd gone mad when he'd done it during the ceremony. She laughed a little as he pulled her toward the dance floor. The self-playing orchestra started up a waltz, and Grindelwald wrapped Queenie up into a tight dancing stance. She began to move with him at once, glancing over to where Vinda stood hand-in-hand with Klaus Reiner. She smiled at her friend, at the way she was holding Klaus' hand, and she whispered up at Grindelwald,

"Everyone is so happy."

"Good." He waltzed with her and stared down into her wide eyes, and he told her, not for the first time today, "You look like a dream."

Queenie finished her dance with him, and when it was over, people applauded. Grindelwald took hold of Queenie's face and bent to kiss her, taking his time in doing so. People whistled and cheered wildly, and Queenie giggled against his lips. He kissed her slowly, and when he pulled away, she teased him,

"Show-off."

"Mmm." He smirked, and he laced her fingers through his as he said, "Let's get a few drinks in you. It's a party."

They walked off, passing Vinda and Klaus, who were making their way to the dance floor now that it was open. Vinda gave Queenie a cheeky little wave, and Queenie winked at Vinda. Grindelwald got himself some firewhisky and fetched Queenie some Champagne, and as they stood drinking, people kept coming up to them to congratulate them. Queenie hardly recognised any of the guests, but she thanked everyone just the same and did her best not to overhear their thoughts.

At one point, though, a strain of thinking crept into her mind rather invasively, and she did listen.

 _Nagini said to meet her at Trattoria Terramia tomorrow at noon. How can I sneak out without them knowing I'm going to see her? I've wanted to see her since Paris. I wanted to come with Grindelwald; I did not want to leave Nagini. When I saw her again today I thought I was going to cry._

"Gellert?" Queenie sucked in breath hard and turned to her new husband. He was chatting with a middle-aged French wizard, and Queenie had to wait for the guests to walk away before he scowled and demanded,

"What's the matter?"

"It's Aurelius. He met with Nagini today and is planning on meeting with her tomorrow. He's thinking that he's glad he joined your movement, but he regrets leaving her in Paris. He was extremely glad she was here in Rome."

"I see." Grindelwald rolled his neck a little and stared at where Aurelius was standing awkwardly, holding a glass of water and a pastry. He put his hand on Queenie's shoulder and murmured, "I'll just be a moment."

"Of course," Queenie nodded, and Grindelwald started to walk off toward Aurelius. Then he turned back to Queenie and informed her,

"You really are a profoundly gifted witch, you know."

He turned on his foot and walked away, leaving his bride alone and grinning.

 **Author's Note: What did he say to Credence/ Aurelius? Hmm. Please be aware that this story is very quickly nearing its conclusion (eek!) so we'll start to wrap up loose threads and probably get one more good solid lemon in. :) Thank you so much for reading and a thousand thank yous for reviewing.**


	30. Through Flame in White

"What did you tell him?" Queenie asked once they'd Apparated into Grindelwald's chambers in the villa. Credence, she meant. He sighed and swung slowly around the bed post as he mused rather drunkenly,

"I told him he could meet with Nagini tomorrow conditional on coming back to me afterward. This is a test of trust for me. If he betrays me, I will not hesitate to destroy him. That's what I told him."

"I see." Queenie stumbled in her heeled shoes, and she eventually just stepped out of them and bent to pick them up. But when she bent, she careened over in her wedding dress and landed on her bottom. She started giggling like mad, and Grindelwald shook his head and scolded her,

"You're drunk."

"We both are!" she argued. "You had even more firewhisky than I had Champagne. By our last dance, we were a complete disaster."

"Mmm." He reached for her with wandless magic, pulling her off the ground and Summoning her to him. He wrapped her up in his arms and bent to kiss her, tasting the liquor on both their lips, and when he pulled away, he murmured, "But it was a fun party."

"Yes, it was a very fun party," Queenie grinned. She shoved at his tuxedo jacket until he shucked it, and she whispered, "Now comes the wedding night."

"What happens on the wedding night?" he asked playfully, and she smirked up at him.

"Oh, do I get to decide?"

"Maybe tonight I let you decide." He raised his eyebrows, the alcohol putting some fire into him, and he watched her glazed eyes flash just a little. She unbuttoned his formal waistcoat and murmured,

"I think I'll tease your cock just a little."

"Tease my cock?" Grindelwald choked back a sound halfway between a laugh and a sound of horror, and he demanded, "What are you going to do to it?"

"Nothing cruel, honey." She so rarely called him that, and it was certainly a sign she was drunk. _Honey_ was what she'd called people like Newt Scamander. _Sir_ and _Gellert_ were her names for him, not _Honey_ , but right now her mind was drowned in Champagne, and so he was _Honey._ He laughed a little at that, and he helped her undress him more quickly. He unbuttoned and took off his white dress shirt, pulling it out of his black dress trousers. He unbuttoned those and kicked them away with his shiny black shoes and his socks and his underwear. Soon enough he was naked, but she was still in her beautiful wedding gown.

"Shall I unbutton the back for you?" he asked, but she shook her head and insisted,

"I'm gonna wear it. I'm gonna make love to you in it."

"In your wedding gown," he repeated, a little confused. He blinked through the feeling of intoxication, but Queenie just said softly,

"I'm never gonna wear this dress again in my entire life. I want my last memory of it to be making love to you in it."

"Well, all right then," Grindelwald agreed with a nod. He climbed up onto the bed, his mostly-hard cock standing at attention between his legs. Queenie reached for her wand, which made him a little nervous, and she aimed it at his cock.

" _Lubrico,_ " she incanted, and an invisible slick layer of lubrication spread over his cock. She began to move her hand on him, to pump her fist along his shaft and up over his tip. Grindelwald settled back against the pillows, enjoying the massage very much indeed. She rubbed at him until things started to go tight, and he squirmed a little, muttering,

"Mmph. Queenie, you're going to wind up with come all over your hand and without the opportunity to make love if you aren't careful."

"I'm not gonna let you come," she said very confidently. Grindelwald frowned, confused again. She quickened her hand on him, and he arched up his back and shifted his hips a little from how good her hand felt rubbing over his tip again and again. He gulped hard and whispered,

"Queenie."

"No, Gellert; don't come." Her voice was very firm then, just as firm as her hand, and his head spun. He saw spots before his eyes, and his ears rang, and he knew he was seconds away from finishing. He groaned loudly and begged her,

"Queenie, please."

Never would he have imagined pleading with his _wife_ for sexual clemency. He could never have foreseen, not even with his mystical skull, himself begging not to come.

"Queenie… please."

She finally ripped her hand off of him, and just in time. He'd been just about to reach the point of no return. The heat in his ears dissipated, and his thumping heart slowed a little. The sensation that he'd been just about to finish passed, but he was absolutely rock solid and throbbing as Queenie smiled warmly down at him. She cupped his jaw in her hand and kissed his lips gently, and she murmured,

"Do you like when I touch you, Gellert?"

"Yes." He whispered the word against her full lips, and she hummed a little sound against him. She began hiking up her skirts around her waist, her beautiful asymmetrical tiered skirts. She pushed down the smooth satin knickers she wore beneath her gown and dangled them on a finger before letting them fall on the sheets beside her, and then she moved to straddle Grindelwald.

She sank onto him, humming again, and he hissed and tipped his head back at the feel of her warm and wet around him. She was sheathing him, holding him tightly for a long moment in silence. They just stayed there for a bit, linked up, bodies meshed together, and Grindelwald savoured the feeling. Suddenly he thought he might come again, but the sensation passed.

Queenie started to move, to bob up and down and to rock forward and back in a cycling sort of motion that felt unfathomably good. She was grinding against Grindelwald's pelvic bone like this, and he could tell that she liked it. He couldn't see her clit, not beneath the layers of her wedding gown, but he didn't mind. He knew she was experiencing pleasure there. He reached up to cup at one of her breasts through her dress and took in the sight of her atop him all in white. Suddenly his eyes burned. He'd fantasised about her in white before he'd ever proposed to her. He'd dreamed about this - about _this_ very thing - and now here she was. She was his wife. She was his. They were handfasted and married and linked together. They'd kissed in front of ten thousand people roaring out their approval. They'd kissed in front of hundreds of close followers. They'd danced with her in her bridal gown.

She had walked through blue flame in white to him.

"Queenie."

His voice cracked a little with unexpected emotion as she rocked up and down, as she found a subtle, easy climax. He burst into his own peak, coming hard into her body and throwing his head back as he did. He growled out his pleasure and panted, and when at last it was over, she came to lie beside him on the bed, still in her wedding gown with his come between her legs. He thought about cleaning her up straight away, but then realised she had her wand and could do it if she wanted to. She made no move to rid herself of his mess, instead snuggling up beside him in her dress against his naked body.

"I will serve you forever and ever," she promised him, and he kissed her forehead as he murmured back,

"Together, Queenie, you and I will pursue the Greater Good. As a pair. An unstoppable pair, I might like to think. Your power augments mine; you are tremendously gifted. And I do think that me falling in love with you was the greatest thing that could have happened to my movement."

She was silent for a while, until she laughed softly and said in disbelief,

"You're my husband."

"Yes." He reached for her hand and threaded their fingers together. He liked the idea, too. He curled up his lips and nodded. "I am your husband. Now, I know you are rightfully attached to that gown, but it's been a very long day. Time for a nightgown, don't you think?"

* * *

"Aurelius." Grindelwald stood at the gate of the Roman villa as Credence Barebone came walking slowly toward him. The boy looked troubled, so Grindelwald held out his hand and reached for Credence's shoulder. He drew the boy into the villa and frowned a little, asking softly, "What happened with Nagini?"

"She… wants to join the movement," said Credence carefully, and Grindelwald tried not to show his surprise. He tipped his head and asked,

"You talked reason into her?"

"They treat her like a freak at the British Ministry," Credence said. "I told her that you don't treat anybody like freaks. Queenie's a Legilimens, and you treat her like she's gifted. I'm an Obscurial, and you treat me like I'm special. I told her I thought you might have room in the movement for a Maledictus."

"Of course." Grindelwald narrowed his eyes at Credence and said seriously, "I am proud of you, my boy. Where is she now?"

"She… she changes when she gets really nervous. Come on out, Nagini; it's okay." Credence turned behind him, and suddenly an enormous snake slithered out from behind a stone wall. Grindelwald smirked just a little, watching the snake make her way up toward him. She began to transform then, to change back into the human form of a beautiful Indonesian woman. Soon she had morphed and shifted completely and was standing beside Credence. She took his arm in her hands and said to Grindelwald,

"They promised me kindness, but they've been running experiments on me at the British Ministry. I can't say that I agree with everything you do, or even most of it, but if you're training Credence to harness and use his magic, it's hard for me to condemn you entirely."

"I promise you that our movement has the best interests of _everyone_ in mind," Grindelwald said to her, "from goblins and merpeople to witches and wizards and absolutely every variation in between. Obscurial and Maledictus can certainly find a home among us. Come with us back to Austria. Watch Aurelius at work, honing his skills. We will find a place for you, Nagini."

She smiled just a little and nodded, and Grindelwald beckoned them into the gate of the villa.

 **Author's Note: That's probably the last lemon of the story! Oh, how I just don't want this story to end! :( I feel like I could write 300,000 words of this, to be honest. Hahaha. Thank you soooo much for reading. PLEASE REVIEW if you get a spare moment. Thanks for dealing with my vacation upload schedule.**


	31. Family

"Thank you for making dinner," said Grindelwald as he and Queenie sat on a table on the expansive balcony. She grinned broadly at him and told him,

"You know I love to cook for you. Eat up, honey."

She realised it was the third or fourth time today she'd called him that, but he didn't seem to mind. She'd always used the term of endearment with just about everyone, but for some reason she'd never felt comfortable enough with Grindelwald to use it. He seemed above the phrase - until now. Now he was her husband, and she'd cooked him dinner, and so he was _honey._ Grindelwald cut into his roast pork loin with balsamic glaze and took a bite, and he made an orgasmic sort of sound as he tipped his head back.

"How do you do this?" he demanded in a groan. "How do you cook food that tastes this good, Queenie? Mmph."

He cut another bite and ate it, and Queenie grinned widely again. She clapped her hands together and squealed a little with delight at how much he liked her food. It made her happy to cook for people. It really did. That made her pause and think of the other things that made her happy, and she said to him,

"This place is really starting to feel like home. Nurmengard."

"Good." He sipped his red wine and stabbed his rosemary roasted potatoes and carrots with his fork. He nodded. "I want it to feel like home. It's important to me that you are comfortable and happy here. Anything I can change or add to make you happy, Queenie, you just tell me, hmm?"

She stared into his uneven eyes, and she felt her own water heavily. She blinked a few times, stared down at her plate, and said softly,

"I suppose it's something we should have discussed _before_ the wedding. It's something people talk about before they get married. But I was kind of afraid to bring up the subject at all, so -"

"Children," he said calmly, and Queenie raised her eyes to him to read his face. He nodded and sipped his wine again. "You want children."

"A family," she shrugged. "You know, just… someday. In the distant future, maybe. I was thinking maybe someday a long time from now you might like to have a family. I don't know… how you feel about that."

"We would hardly be a conventional family," Grindelwald noted. He cut into his meat and took another bite, seeming to savour it a little less this time. He chewed, swallowed, took another sip of wine, and said, "Half of the wizarding world kisses my boots, and the other half of the wizarding world wants me dead. My primary concern would be the safety of any child you and I had together."

"Oh. Okay. I understand." Queenie felt disappointment go through her, and she reached for her own wine. She sipped it and set it down with a shaking hand. First Jacob had turned down her idea of having a family, and now Gellert Grindelwald. Would she ever be a mother?

"That wasn't a _no_ ," Grindelwald said smoothly, and Queenie snapped to attention. She parted her lips as she stared into his eyes again, and he quirked up half his mouth briefly. He shrugged. "There are workarounds. Protective enchantments. Safe houses. Amulets and Unbreakable Vows. All manner of means to shield a child from harm. We would have to be very vigilant. I wouldn't want a swarm of children; it wouldn't be safe. It's feasible to protect one, maybe two. Any more than that becomes a massive hazard with my notoriety. I would feel most comfortable having an only child, just one precious child to protect. Hmm?"

Queenie began to cry instantly. She couldn't help herself. She nodded vigorously and swiped at her tears.

"Yes. One child," she whispered, and she was suddenly overwhelmed. Was he saying _yes_ to the idea of having a family with her? Was he really doing that? Queenie swigged at her red wine and asked in a trembling voice, "When?"

Grindelwald smirked a little at how emotional she'd become. He reached for her hand and told her,

"There's no antidote for that contraceptive potion I brewed up for you. You've got another three months on it before you'll be fertile again. If you wish, as soon as the potion wears off, we can simply let nature take its course. There's no need to delay further if you don't want to."

"Really?" Queenie's eyes went wide. She could start trying for a baby in three months? She gasped a little and tried to imagine herself cradling a little infant. Then she tried to imagine Gellert Grindelwald cradling a little infant, and fresh tears washed up into her eyes. She brushed them away and insisted in a thick voice, "Finish your pork, honey; it's gonna get cold and nasty."

* * *

"Nagini, you look absolutely lovely," said Vinda, and Nagini stared at herself in the full-length mirror in the suite she'd been given - Queenie's old rooms. Queenie, of course, had moved in with Grindelwald after the wedding. It was strange to be back in these rooms and have them belong to someone else now.

Nagini wore an elegant long dress in black satin, cut in a modest v-neck with long sleeves and a draping, embroidered bodice. The skirt was a long pencil design with a slit up to the knee to allow for easy walking. It was at once simple and yet rather sexy, and Nagini noted,

"I'm not used to wearing quality clothes like this. At the circus, I got whatever scraps they pulled out of some trunk for me. And in the jungle, I was… well, for a while, I was naked."

"Well, here you not in a jungle, and you not a freak," Vinda reassured her. "Here you are a valued member of an important movement. You need the clothes to match. As for your hair… if you don't mind?"

"Um… no. Go ahead." Nagini seemed nervous as Vinda aimed her wand at Nagini's head. With a few flicks and pulls, Nagini's awkward, messy hairstyle was transformed into a smooth, elegant chignon at the nape of her neck. Nagini seemed impressed by what she saw in the mirror. She stared and studied her reflection, and she whispered, "Is this really me?"

"Why did you join the circus?" Queenie asked, and she immediately pried into Nagini's head. She saw images of a penniless Indonesian girl gone to London on a dream, a freak driven out of her home country by fear, joining the circus, which traveled Europe and offered her a place to sleep at night in exchange for showing off her blood curse.

"I didn't feel like I had much of a choice," said Nagini. She frowned. "I don't know why Grindelwald is letting me join the movement. I'm useless. Soon enough I'll just be a snake."

"Even when your blood curse makes itself manifest," said Vinda determinedly, "there will always for you. Even as a snake."

She smiled a little as she said that, and Nagini gave her a strange look. She parted her lips and stared, and then she thought,

 _Credence was right. They're the only ones in the entire world who won't view me as a doomed, demented freak._

"I may not be turning into a snake day by day," Queenie said, "but I can relate, at least a little bit. You know, being able to hear everybody's thoughts all the time doesn't win you a lot of friends. It does get the word _freak_ thrown at you a lot. In school, by people you've just met. By your own sister. It gets you called _crazy_ by people you thought loved you. But here, in this movement, with Gellert Grindelwald, I'm not a freak just because I can read minds. I'm gifted. I'm special."

"But a blood curse is not a gift, no matter how you twist it," Nagini said, shifting uncomfortably. "Being a Maledictus isn't _special_ ; it's just… sad."

"You're going to do amazing things, Nagini," Queenie said with all the confidence in the world. She nodded firmly, and Vinda smiled at Nagini. The young woman looked uncertain. Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door, and Queenie frowned as she recognised the mind outside.

"Mr Abernathy," she said in confusion. She went to open the door, and there he was, standing there in silence. He didn't talk these days - something about his tongue getting messed up during the escape from New York. Queenie remembered working for him at MACUSA, remembered the way he'd always tentatively flirted with her and thought about her. But he didn't dare flirt now. Not now that she was Mrs Queenie Grindelwald. Now he just held out an envelope addressed to Queenie, and she asked,

"This came by owl?"

He nodded firmly, and Queenie took the envelope and smiled at him.

"Thanks, Mr Abernathy."

She shut the door as he walked away, and when she came back into the sitting room, Nagini and Vinda were eyeing her curiously. Queenie cleared her throat and said, based on the writing on the envelope's exterior,

"This is from my sister, Tina. I think I should always open things from her in Gellert's presence. Excuse me, will you?"

"Of course. Nagini, We'll take a look at the rest of your new clothes," said Vinda, winking at Queenie as she made her way out of the room. Queenie hurried down the corridor and down a winding stone staircase, and when she reached Grindelwald's office, she knocked very firmly. His door opened with wandless magic at once, and she came stalking inside with a purpose. She huffed as she pulled out the chair opposite his desk and sat without asking.

"I just got this letter from Tina," she said, setting it on his desk. He tipped his head and said simply,

"Open it."

Queenie picked up the envelope and broke open the seal, pulling out the folded parchment inside. She read aloud,

 _Queenie,_

 _After your wedding in Rome, Newt and I went to Vienna to explore Austrian wizarding culture a bit. What a beautiful city. I would really love to meet up with you for some Sachertorte and coffee. No tricks. No games. No one gets kidnapped or captured. No playing Auror. No Polyjuice. Just two sisters in a Viennese café having a long overdue conversation._

 _Please, Queenie. I have big news. Lots of it. And I want to give it to you in person, on good terms. Let's try to put our differences aside for one day and just meet up. Please._

 _Café Schwarze Katze, Vienna. Tuesday at noon. Please, sis. Be there. It'll just be Newt and me. No tricks, no games. I love you. I'll see you then._

 _Tina_

Queenie stared at the letter in shock. She raised her eyes to Grindelwald and shrugged.

"What do I do?"

He breathed out a long sigh through his nose and then licked his lip.

"I think," he said, "that you go and have some chocolate cake with your sister on Tuesday."

 **Author's Note: So, this story is once again at a crossroads. I could wrap it up in the next two chapters and have it end around 70,000 words OR this could turn into a 100,000+ word fic that explores Queenie and Grindelwald having a baby, Tina and Newt's big news, Tina and Queenie trying to maintain a relationship while Queenie's married to Grindelwald, Nagini being a part of the movement while Credence/Aurelius also is, etc.**

 **If you have the stamina as a reader for me to keep going and you would be interested in reading another 10-15 chapters of this story, please let me know. If the interest is there, I'll definitely continue. If it seems like people are burned out and aren't going to read on, I'll just go ahead and neatly wrap this one up and tie a bow around it.**

 **Thank you for reading this far and thank you so very much for your input!**


	32. Big News

The Café Schwarze Katze was a No-Maj restaurant on a broad boulevard in Vienna. Queenie nervously sat at a wrought iron table outside the café and watched as No-Maj automobiles drove by. She patted at her wand inside her black coat and cleared her throat anxiously, fingering at her gloves. A No-Maj waiter came up to her and asked her something in German that she didn't understand. Queenie's mouth fell open, and she said cautiously,

" _Ich bin Amerikaner. Sprechen Sie Englisch?_ "

"American? English, of course." The waiter gave her a tight sort of smile. "What may I get for you, Miss?"

"Well, I'm waiting for someone. For my sister and her… her friend," said Queenie, feeling more nervous than ever. "She should be here real soon; I'm sorry."

"It is not a problem. Would you like some coffee while you wait?" asked the waiter, and Queenie grinned.

"Yeah, coffee would be great. Thank you. _Danke._ "

The waiter walked off, and then suddenly Queenie heard footsteps from behind her, and Tina's voice said softly,

"Hello, Queenie."

She whirled in her chair to see Tina and Newt holding hands as they walked up to the table. They took seats opposite her and beside one another, not letting go of each other, and Queenie stared into Tina's dark eyes. She immediately felt her sister's thoughts.

 _Wonder if she saw the ring or if she's going to make me make a big announcement about it._

Queenie struggled to contain her emotion. The waiter came back and put a cup of coffee in front of her, and Tina ordered herself and Newt some coffee, as well as three pieces of Sachertorte for all of them. Queenie bit her lip once the waiter walked off, and she asked,

"So what's this big news, Tina? We aren't going to talk about any of the bad stuff that's happened between us, are we? And we aren't going to talk about why we disagree, huh? We're just gonna be sisters today. So, tell me your big news."

"Well, first of all, I want to tell you that you looked absolutely gorgeous at your wedding, sis." Tina's eyes shone, watering a little, and beside her, Newt rubbed awkwardly at her shoulder. He stared at Tina, at her eyes, and Queenie reached into his thoughts.

 _Her eyes really are like salamanders', especially when she gets to tearing up. Then more than ever._

Queenie scowled. Salamander eyes? Newt was insane, she thought. Adorable, but insane. She sighed, and Tina continued,

"You may not have been marrying a man that I like very much… at all… even a little bit… but you did look absolutely beautiful. And you seemed happy. And I just wanted to tell you congratulations, Queenie."

"Well, thanks, Teen." Queenie paused then, for the waiter came back with a little cart. On it were two coffees for Newt and Tina, as well as three slices of Sachertorte. Queenie dug into the chocolate cake as soon as the waiter left, and when she took a bite, she savoured the rich flavour. But she also knew she could make a better version of this exact cake. She set down her fork and asked again, "What's the big news?"

Tina smiled at Newt, who turned his face to Queenie and stammered in his hesitant way,

"Well, you see, it had already happened before Rome. It… it happened in England. I asked her in glen down in the basement of my house, which was rather a foolish thing to do, as I nearly lost the ring to the Nifflers, which have grown so much, but -"

"Newt asked me to marry him," Tina blurted, "and I said yes. We're engaged."

Queenie broke into a massive grin and nodded her happiness. She blinked through the sudden tears that came to her eyes, and she said,

"I really am so happy for you."

"Even though you let us get Obliviated and sent to live in a cottage in Wales?" asked Newt, and Tina squeezed his hand roughly. She shook her head and whispered,

"We aren't discussing the past, Newt."

"I am merely pointing out that your new brother-in-law has done a demonstrable number of objectionable things against us," mused Newt. He picked up his coffee, sipped it, set it down, and began rattling off offences on his fingers. "There was the time he almost killed us in Paris. There was the time he killed twenty-three Ministry employees to break Queenie out of her arrest. There was the time he took us prisoner and threatened to kill my brother - having already killed my sister-in-law and oldest friend. Oh, and the way he threatened to Imperius us and make us move against the Ministry ourselves, then decided to be _merciful_ by just Obliviating us and sending us to rural Wales to live as Muggles until Dumbledore found us and gave us new wands. There's been all of that."

"I can get you your wands back. That's not a problem," Queenie assured Newt, who scoffed and said,

"That is scarcely the point, is it?"

"Well, what is the point, Newt?" Queenie glared at him. "Tina wrote me a letter saying there would be no tricks or games. That we were here to discuss big news. I'm guessing that news is of your engagement. Congratulations to both of you. Really. But did you also bring me here just to yell at me for everything my husband's ever done? Because I won't sit here and listen to that."

"Please, Newt," Tina begged, sounding desperate. She shook her head. "We aren't talking about the past."

Newt shifted in his seat and cracked his neck a little. He looked very angry, his freckled face flushing red, as he murmured,

"Am I meant to just pretend Leta died in a shipwreck like her brother, then?"

"No. But we aren't here to discuss Leta." Tina rubbed at his shoulder through his suit jacket, and Queenie tipped her head up, trying not to cry. She knew Grindelwald had done some terrible things. But they'd all been necessary for the Greater Good. She knew that, too. She sighed very heavily and ate her cake for a few moments until Newt informed her rather bitterly,

"Jacob has a new girlfriend in New York."

"Does he?" Queenie was surprised by the lack of emotion she felt at that. She raised her eyes to Newt and shrugged. "I have a new husband in Austria."

"She doesn't want to hear about Candy," Tina murmured, and in her mind Queenie saw a letter from Jacob spelling out how he'd fallen head over heels with a pretty redhead named Candace Stefanski - a good Polish girl who loved his baking and always wanted to walk in Central Park. Suddenly Queenie felt an ugly stab of jealousy, and she pulled out of Tina's head. Tina gave her an apologetic look, and Queenie shrugged.

"Well, I hope he's happy. Really, I do. Gellert and I are going to start a family in a few months."

"You are?" Tina's eyes lit up, but then they darkened again as she realised just what that meant. Gellert Grindelwald having a child. She let out a shaking breath and said, "Please be careful, Queenie."

"Of course," Queenie said lightly. "When will you two be getting married? Will I be invited?"

Newt and Tina looked at one another for a long moment. Tina cleared her throat and said,

"The wedding will be in London. Newt's very well-known, so there will be some high-profile people at the ceremony and reception."

"Is this your way of telling me I'm not invited to my own sister's wedding?" asked Queenie, sipping at her coffee and setting it back down again. Tina shook her head.

"No. You can come, sis, but… not him. Obviously. Well, I would hope it would be obvious. I hope you can understand why we can't have that man anywhere near our wedding. At all. Even a little bit. Even having you there is a huge risk, but one we're willing to take, because we love you."

Queenie hesitated. "Will Jacob be there?"

Tina scratched at her hair. "Well, I dunno if he'll -"

"Yes, Jacob will be there. He's to be the best man. Theseus understands," Newt said very tightly. Tina huffed a breath, and Queenie drummed her fingers on the table.

"I dunno if Gellert will let me go to London by myself. I may have to bring a few…"

"Guards?" Tina raised a brow.

"Friends," Queenie corrected her. Tina nodded.

"I understand. I just want you there. No games. No tricks."

"When is the wedding?" Queenie asked again, and Tina reached into her handbag to pull out a stiff parchment invitation, which she handed over.

"It's in three weeks," she said. "I would have told you sooner, but _you_ were getting married, and then it was difficult to meet up, so…"

"This is a beautiful invitation." Queenie ran her fingers over the animated scroll of black and silver on parchment, the way it formed dual Occamies on either side. She pulled her finger over the lettering, and it illuminated under her touch. She sighed and nodded. "I'll be there. I'll get Gellert to say yes. Congratulations, Queenie. Newt. I'm really happy for you both."

Tina looked like she's been expecting more of a reaction, like she'd been expecting the old Queenie who would have jumped up and down and clapped her hands at the news. But things were different between the sisters now. So she just smiled a little at Queenie and said,

"Thanks, sis."

* * *

Grindelwald inhaled deeply from the mouthpiece of his Seeing Skull, letting his eyes roll back in his head and letting the magic swirl in his mind and lungs. He breathed out, pushing the black smoke out and thrusting forth a vision. This was one he had never seen, and he had no idea what to expect. He stood back and watched his office fill with smoke, and then with imagery.

 _Queenie approached Grindelwald with a bundle in her arms. It was a swaddled infant, tiny and making little gurgling noises. Queenie looked tired but happy in her black wool dress as she walked up to Grindelwald and carefully passed over the baby. He took the child from her, and suddenly the perspective of the vision shifted. It was as though the vision were looking over Grindelwald's shoulder, revealing the way he was carefully cradling the baby, revealing the baby's sweet little face and little curly lock of blond hair._

" _Leopold," said Grindelwald gently to his son, smiling down at him, "Did you eat well for your mother?"_

" _He ate like he was starving!" Queenie asserted, and Grindelwald raised his eyes to her and nodded._

" _Good. The boy will grow to be strong."_

" _He was so impatient for his milk that sparks flew out of his fingertips," Queenie giggled, and Grindelwald tipped his head._

" _Then he is no Squib, eh? My Leopold. Come, sit with Father in his office. I have work to do; nothing I can't do with you in my arms. Go take a nap, Queenie. You could use a break, hmm?"_

" _Are you sure?" Queenie wrung her hands before her, and Grindelwald just nodded, shooing her away._

" _Leopold and I will get my work done together. Won't we, Leo? Let's go. Let's let Mama rest, hm?"_

The vision dissolved into thin air then, along with the smoke, and Grindelwald found himself trembling where he stood. He blinked a few times, his eyes burning like mad. He leaned heavily on his desk and just stood in silence for a long while as he absorbed what he'd just seen. He would have a son. Leopold. The boy would be healthy. He and Queenie would be happy. He gulped heavily and panted a little where he stood, staring out the window at the mountain opposite him. He jolted then, for there was knocking on his office door.

"Enter," he barked, and the office door creaked open. Queenie herself came walking inside, shutting the door. She looked like she was about to speak, but then she froze and asked,

"Are you all right? You look like you've seen a dozen ghosts."

"I'm fine," he insisted. "I saw… it was…"

She stared at his skull on his desk, and as she reached to pick it up and put it on its shelf, she assured him softly,

"You don't have to tell me about it."

"Leopold."

Queenie stared up at him, shaking her head in confusion. "Sorry?"

He held her cheeks in his hands and whispered, "Our son. He'll be called Leopold."

He watched her eyes well up and boil over, and as she swiped at them, she nodded and murmured,

"That sounds perfect."

He bent to kiss her, pressing his lips hard against hers, suddenly remembering the way ten thousand voices had cried out in approval when he'd kissed her in the Colosseum. He kissed her again, harder this time, and then he backed up and said,

"You came for a reason. What was it?"

"Oh. Yes. Tina and Newt are getting married. That was the big news," said Queenie, and Grindelwald tipped his head.

"I'm not surprised. What else would the big news be? I suppose you want to go to the wedding, despite it being an incredible security risk, one we definitely should not take."

Queenie gave him a crooked, apologetic little smile. "She's my sister. The only one I've got."

"I suppose you must be there." He touched at his forehead and sighed very heavily. "Obviously, my name is nowhere near the guest list. You'll go with Klaus Reiner and Vinda Rosier. The three of you will attend together and stay together at all times - including nights, so no funny business on their part that leaves you alone as a third wheel."

"Got it." Queenie grinned and then hesitated. "Also, I kind of promised them their wands back."

Grindelwald rolled his eyes, walked over to his desk, and opened the thin drawer just beneath it. He pulled out Tina's and Newt's wands and handed them over to Queenie, who accepted them gratefully.

"My wedding gift to the two of them," Grindelwald said dryly. "No, go, if there's nothing else; I've got Krenn coming in two minutes."

"Yes, sir," smirked Queenie, and he watched her skedaddle quickly out of his office, leaving him with a racing heart and ghosts of a vision.

 **Author's Note: Thank you SO VERY MUCH for all the feedback about continuing the story. Based on the apparent interest and number of people who've said they would read on, I've decided to continue the story. :)**

 **So, Queenie's going to England for Tina and Newt's wedding with Vinda and Klaus. That should be fun. I'm assuming Dumbledore will be at this wedding, now with unfettered access to Queenie. Raise your wand if you foresee something hitting the fan with all of that.**

 **Thanks as always for reading and please do review if you get a second!**


	33. Gifts

Queenie looked around the blue bedroom in the London safe house. This was the bedroom where Grindelwald had taken her virginity, the space where they'd first seen one another naked and he'd very gently made love to her. She got a little emotional, remembering the way he'd been so careful not to hurt her, using an _Allevio_ Charm and making her finish with a spell so that she enjoyed herself.

"Are you ready, Queenie?" came a voice from the door. Queenie turned round to see Vinda in a black silk kimono-style wrap dress, a pointed hat perched upon her head. She looked very pretty, but incredibly understated. Queenie looked down at herself and asked,

"Is this too much?"

She'd worn a gold flapper-style dress, with beads and sequins, along with Champagne-coloured satin gloves to her elbows and tan t-straps. She had a glittering gold clip in her hair, and her platinum and diamond pendant shone around her neck. She was a sparkly monstrosity compared to Vinda's sheer elegance. But Vinda insisted,

"You are the sister of the bride. And you are Queenie Grindelwald. You look perfect."

"You sure?" Queenie asked her friend, and Vinda stepped into the blue room. She said softly,

"Queenie, you know that if he were here, he would tell you that you looked like a dream. In those words, _non?_ Isn't that what he tells you."

"Yeah." Queenie grinned and felt her cheeks go warm. She stared at the ground and scuffed her heeled shoe a little. "He does say that."

"I wish I could send him a photograph of you," Vinda said, reaching to tuck a bit of Queenie's hair behind her ear. "He would be so jealous that he is not here."

"Well, I don't want to make him jealous," Queenie said, rolling her eyes. She glanced out the bedroom and whispered, "Are you going to dance with Klaus tonight?"

Vinda hesitated. "I don't know if we'll dance. We aren't exactly wanted at this wedding. We are here to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Klaus and I know our duty. We are not here to party."

That explained the solemn, simple dress, then. Queenie nodded.

"Well, remember what Gellert told me. When - not if - Albus Dumbledore wants to speak with me, we have to let him speak with me alone."

He'd also said, _Don't let him try to convince you that what we are doing is wicked, Queenie; what we are doing is for the Greater Good. He once believed it, too, and then was lost._

"Are you ready to go?" Vinda asked again, and Queenie nodded. She and Vinda walked out into the corridor and down the stairs, down into the parlour to where Klaus Reiner stood very patiently waiting. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Queenie in her sparkling gold dress, but his gaze quickly settled on Vinda, and it was obvious even through his German thoughts that he found Vinda absolutely beautiful.

The three of them Apparated to the Ashwinder, which was a popular event space in Kensington, off the beaten track of wizarding London. This was where many London witches and wizards held their handfastings and receptions, for it was a dining room and ballroom on the third floor of a multi-use No-Maj building. Witches and wizards entered the Ashwinder by climbing a hidden flight of stairs and ascending six flights to the third floor, which sounded like a contradiction but was the magic in action.

Now Queenie climbed and found herself winded at the top of the sixth flight of stairs. She turned to Vinda and huffed,

"This is a ridiculous way… to get to… a wedding."

"It certainly is interesting," said Vinda, sounding remarkably unaffected by all the climbing. She opened the door marked _The Ashwinder_ and stepped inside, and Queenie and Klaus followed her. They stepped into a Classically decorated space, with crystal chandeliers and mirrors and portraits on the papered walls. There were tables set up for the reception, and there were rows of chairs and an aisle at the front of the large room where the ceremony would be taking place. Vinda, Queenie, and Klaus moved into the room and each got themselves some wine. Queenie could feel dozens of eyes on her, and suddenly she was hit with a barrage of English-language thoughts about her.

 _That's the girl that betrayed Tina and Newt and joined Grindelwald… didn't just join him. Married him!_

 _Whore! Whore! She's a right bloody whore!_

 _What is that traitorous slut doing here? Someone boot that bloody bitch out of this wedding before she ruins it._

 _My goodness; did they actually invite her?_

 _I am shocked she had the gumption to actually come. Why, if I was a turncoat who'd married a terrible Dark wizard, I wouldn't be seen anywhere near my sister's wedding._

 _How dare she actually show up here?_

"Queenie? You're shaking." Vinda stepped up to Queenie and put her hand on her shoulder, and Queenie met Vinda's eyes. She gulped hard and whispered,

"They're all thinking such awful things about me, Vinda."

Vinda's face softened. She shook her head. "No, you mustn't listen. Because, Queenie, none of the people here have had their own ears opened. None of them can see. They are still deaf and blind, all of them. So you mustn't listen to them. They do not yet understand."

Queenie nodded. "They don't understand," she repeated. Klaus pulled up alongside Vinda and said in his gentle German accent,

"Someday we will make them all see, Queenie, don't you think? It will happen, won't it?"

"Yes." Queenie smiled at her friends, a nervous little smile, and she sipped her wine. But then Vinda's face went very serious, and Vinda said gravely,

"Albus Dumbledore is walking straight toward you."

Queenie turned around slowly to see the grown wizard from the dream. Albus Dumbledore. He looked very sharp in tuxedo robes. As he approached Queenie, Vinda and Klaus stepped away. Dumbledore held his own goblet of elf-made wine, and he sipped it carefully as he acknowledged,

"Madam Grindelwald. How very good of you to come. I'm sure your sister and Newt are thrilled that you're here."

"What do you want?" Queenie asked plainly. Dumbledore smiled just a little and stared at his shoes for a moment. He kept staring down as he said,

"You are a gifted Legilimens. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that I was in love with your husband, once upon a time."

"Once upon a time," Queenie repeated, narrowing her eyes. She suspected that Dumbledore still harboured some semblance of emotion toward Grindelwald, even through the enmity. She shrugged. "I know about your blood pact. I know about that summer you spent together. And I know that Gellert Grindelwald only kissed you and held you because he wanted you as an ally in his revolution. He never loved you."

"No, I don't suppose Gellert ever did love me properly," Dumbledore said. "At least, not the way he loves you. Nothing like the way he loves you. And I suspect that the two of you have plans for a family, don't you?"

"That is absolutely none of your business!" Queenie insisted, scoffing loudly. "What Gellert and I do with one another is absolutely not your -"

"What Gellert Grindelwald does concerns me greatly for a number of reasons," said Dumbledore seriously. He slowly pulled out his wand, and a regretful look came over his face. Queenie scowled, about to call out for Vinda or reach for her own wand. But before she could, Dumbledore aimed the wand at Queenie's lower abdomen and murmured a string of words that Queenie didn't understand. She clapped her hands over her belly and demanded,

"Hey! What was _that_?"

"You'll thank me eventually," Dumbledore insisted, tucking his wand away. Queenie felt an odd, cold sensation in her lower abdomen, and she began to panic. She glared at Dumbledore and cried,

"What did you do to me?"

"Is there a problem here?" asked Vinda Rosier, stepping up with Klaus Reiner. Dumbledore held his hands up in apparent surrender and said gently,

"I gave Queenie a gift. There is no need for violence."

"A _gift?_ " Queenie shrieked. "Vinda, he Cursed me or something! He put some kind of spell on me!"

"Dumbledore, undo the spell now, or there will be consequences," said Klaus, reaching for his wand. But just then, the Ministry officiant at the head of the room called in a booming voice,

"Take your seats, please! The ceremony is about to begin!"

"We are not finished here, Dumbledore," said Vinda firmly, but Dumbledore just walked away with brisk steps. Queenie felt horror inside as she let Vinda numbly guide her to a seat toward the front of the chairs. She sat, and she felt blank and empty as she watched Tina walk down the aisle in a calf-length white chiffon dress with a cap-and-veil dragging behind her. She carried white lilies, which were very pretty, and seemed accented by some sort of magical plant Queenie didn't recognise. Queenie noticed that Pickett the Bowtruckle was sitting on Newt's shoulder where he waited happily for Queenie in his tuxedo robes. A baby Niffler stuck its head out of his jacket pocket and went for the gold chain on Newt's robes, but Newt quickly handed the baby Niffler off to his assistant in the front row. Tina seemed unbothered by the proliferation of Beasts at her wedding; in fact, she seemed charmed by it.

The handfasting was very similar to how Queenie's had been, except this one didn't involve ten thousand people in the Colosseum screaming for Gellert Grindelwald. There were a number of influential people here, though, and when Tina and Newt kissed at the end of the handfasting, Newt seemed awfully nervous to do so in front of everybody. Tina discreetly covered up their faces a little with her hand and rubbed gently at her husband's cheek, and Queenie knew for certain they were deeply in love. Their thoughts told her as much, too.

And then there was Jacob. Handfastings didn't actually require a best man, so Jacob hadn't been standing up with Tina and Newt during the ceremony. But he'd been in the front row, and now, as everyone cleared out after the ceremony, he caught Queenie's eye at last. She stared at him, and he just shook his head solemnly. She peered into his mind and realised he was thinking right at her, knowing she could hear his thoughts.

 _I really, genuinely can't believe that you not only joined that awful, horrible man, but then went on to fall in love with him and then marry him. I thought I knew you. I thought we loved one another. Turns out you were a completely different person than I thought you were, Queenie Goldstein._

"It's Grindelwald," she said aloud, rising and walking over to him. "It's _Queenie Grindelwald_ , not _Queenie Goldstein._ "

"Oh, yeah. My mistake." Jacob put his hand to his chest and narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. He scoffed and marveled, "You've changed, Queenie."

"Where's Candy?" Queenie asked cruelly, and Jacob tipped his head.

"We broke up," he said simply. "Wasn't in the cards."

"Sorry to hear that, honey," Queenie said, putting her lips into a flat line. Jacob blinked a few times and noted,

"You joined with him because you wanted to marry me. Do I have that right?"

"Nothing in the past matters anymore. Only the future matters," Queenie informed him tightly, "and everything I do in the future will be for the Greater Good."

"Don't say those words, sweetheart." Jacob shook his head and pinched at the bridge of his nose, and Queenie whispered dangerously,

"Don't ever call me that again."

Jacob opened his eyes and looked at her, surprised by her low hiss, but he made a low noise of disbelief and nodded.

"Yeah, okay," he said. "I won't ever call you that again. I'm done. We're done. Yeah. Go be happy with your psycho evil murderer husband."

"We're very happy; thanks." Queenie tipped her chin up. Suddenly a voice beside her said,

"Okay, break it up, you two."

Queenie turned and saw Tina looking very anxious in her wedding dress, having removed her long veil. She stared down at Queenie and said,

"Thanks for coming, sis."

"That's my cue," Jacob said gratefully, and he walked briskly away as he said over his shoulder, "Congratulations, Tina."

"Teenie, you look beautiful." Queenie reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the two spare wands she'd brought from Austria - the confiscated wands that belonged to Newt and Tina. The ones they'd had since they'd been eleven-year-olds. She handed them over to Tina and shrugged. "I promised."

"Thank you." Tina nodded seriously and took hers and Newt's wands. She tucked hers away and said, "Will you stay for the party?"  
"Considering that Albus Dumbledore put some kind of Curse on me and every person in this room is thinking that I'm an evil whore? I hope you'll forgive me if I don't suck down Champagne and dance without my husband all night." Queenie flashed Tina a sad little smile. "I just wanted to see you get married, and I've done that much."

"Well. Thanks again for coming," said Tina. She stared at Queenie for a long moment and then asked awkwardly, "Can I… How about a hug?"

"Oh. Sure." Queenie embraced her sister, but it felt stilted and distant. The close relationship they'd once had was shattered, she realised, probably for good. She pulled back from Tina and looked around for Vinda and Klaus. They were hovering nearby, and she nodded at them. She turned back to Tina and said rather crisply,

"Congratulations, Teenie. Love you."

"Love you more, sis," Tina said, her eyes watering. Salamanders' eyes, Newt had thought, and Queenie scoffed internally again at the ridiculous thought. She dragged her fingers down her sister's arm and walked away, toward Vinda and Klaus, and the three of them Disapparated from the spot, going back to the safe house.

* * *

"What you _mean_ , he put some sort of Curse on you?" Grindelwald demanded once they'd gone back to Nurmengard.

"I didn't want to break out into battle over it at my sister's wedding," Queenie said anxiously. "He took advantage of the fact that we were in a crowded place and I wouldn't fight back. He just took his wand out and aimed it at my lower belly and incanted something I couldn't hear. He said I'd thank him. Said it was a gift. This was after he'd asked if we were going to start a family."

"Oh, Queenie." Grindelwald pushed at his temples and shook his head. "It was an Infecundum Curse. He made you infertile. He thinks he's doing you a favour by making it so you can't bear me any children."

" _What?_ " Queenie shrieked the word. She flew up from her chair in his office and shoved it roughly aside. "You must know the counter-Curse, Gellert!"

"Admittedly, I do not," he said regretfully, "but there is plenty of information I don't know. I saw us cradling a son in a vision. There must be a way around this Curse. We must be able to find our way out of this. I refuse to believe otherwise."

"Gellert!" Queenie was shaking now, and starting to cry, so Grindelwald rose and walked over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and bent to touch his forehead to hers.

"We will have a child," he said comfortingly. "I will not allow this to affect our family in any way. I promise you, Queenie. I promise you. All right?"

He kissed her forehead, and then her lips, and she whispered shakily, "All right."

"I promise you, Queenie," he said again, and once more she whispered in a fearful voice,

"All right."

"Go lie down; you're shaking like a leaf." Grindelwald sent her away, and once she'd gone, he sat down at his desk and angrily pulled out a parchment and a quill and began writing.

 _Albus,_

 _Damn you._

 _Whatever you thought you were doing, whomever you thought you were saving, whatever good you thought you were achieving, you were wrong._

 _May you never find happiness._

 _Gellert_

 **Author's Note: Geez, Dumbledore. Way to screw up Queenie's plans for her life! And what an awkward interaction with Jacob, huh? And these two sisters are definitely distanced now! Will Grindelwald be able to undo what Dumbledore did? Who wants more Nagini and Credence/Aurelius? Woo hoo! Thanks for reading… PLEASE REVIEW if you can spare a moment!**


	34. Arrogance

Grindelwald Disapparated in perfect silence, and when he came to, he was standing in the snow outside the cottage on the mountainside. He stalked through the snow and walked up to the door, opening it and pushing it open. Night had fallen, and he half expected that Credence would already be asleep. But the boy was seated on the sofa in front of a raging fire, wearing just a white dress shirt and a black waistcoat with his trousers. He had his arms sprawled across the back of the sofa. Lying all across his lap and on the sofa was a heavy, intimidating snake. Nagini.

"Don't get up," Grindelwald commanded as he stepped into the cottage and shut the door. "I came to see how your training went today."

Nagini slithered off of Credence's lap and made her way over to the corner of the cottage. The Maledictus began to shift and warp, changing back into her human form. Credence murmured,

"She's more comfortable relaxing as a snake sometimes."

"Mmm." Grindelwald nodded, and when at last Nagini was standing before him in a simple black dress, her hair pulled back tightly, he greeted her, "Good evening."

"Hello," Nagini nodded. "Credence was practising for hours earlier with his wand. He was Levitating things. Vanishing them. He melted and re-froze the snow. He knocked over trees and then repaired them."

"Good." Grindelwald smiled a bit at Credence and said, "Aurelius, your training is progressing much more quickly than any Hogwarts or Ilvermorny or Durmstrang student would be able to say. You are becoming a proper wizard very, very quickly. Soon enough, your raw potential will be harnessed into incredible strength of magic. You will not be an out-of-control Obscurial whose magic just blasts its way through innocents. You will be an unstoppable force. You are truly gifted, Aurelius. But your brother moves to contain you."

"Why does Albus Dumbledore want to capture or kill him?" asked Nagini curiously, and she came to sit beside Credence on the sofa. She took Credence's hand in hers and squeezed tightly, and Grindelwald was surprised at the level of affection. He raised his eyebrows and said,

"Albus Dumbledore has experience with an Obscurial in his family. And so do I. We both witnessed the decimation of your sister, Ariana, by her own Obscurus, when we were boys. Dumbledore believes that once a soul has an Obscurus attached, the person must be destroyed. And when he learned it was his own long-lost brother who was the hunted Obscurial, he became hungrier than ever to see the so-called wicked magic destroyed."

None of this was true, of course, but Nagini's eyes widened, and Credence looked utterly filled with rage. He asked seriously,

"When will I get to kill him?"

"When you are ready to move against him, my boy," Grindelwald assured him patiently. "We are none of us in any rush, are we? Besides, he's just done something to personally wrong me, ad I just might need him alive long enough to fix it. So… not yet. For now, you continue your training until you can say that you have the same magical skill with a wand as any adult, fully-trained wizard in my retinue. You are doing phenomenally well. I am proud of you."

Nagini smiled a bit and turned to Credence, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek and making him flush red. He bowed his head and muttered,

"Thank you, sir."

"Nagini, will you be staying the night up here?" asked Grindelwald, for he'd been surprised to find her up here. He tried to keep his tone light and airy, but Nagini seemed nervous as she said,

"Vinda Rosier brought us up here by Side-Along Apparition. She said it was all right if I came. I don't know if she's coming back for me tonight or tomorrow. Sir."

"Stay. I'll tell her to come back tomorrow." Grindelwald flicked his lips up, and Nagini wrapped her arm around Credence's as she gave Grindelwald a grateful look. Credence pulled her against him, and Grindelwald could sense that the two of them badly wanted some time alone. So he nodded and said again to Credence,

"You are doing very well, and I am pleased with your progress. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sir," said Credence as Grindelwald headed back out into the snow and Disapparated, leaving the Obscurial and the Maledictus alone for the night in the cottage.

* * *

"He doesn't know the counter-Curse," Queenie sobbed, sitting on the divan in the large sitting room at the outside of the expansive quarters she shared with Grindelwald. "Dumbledore made me infertile, and Gellert doesn't know the counter-Curse."

Vinda rubbed at Queenie's back. "I'm sure he will figure it out. Surely one exists, and if it exists, Gellert Grindelwald will find it. You know he's brilliant; he will figure it out."

"He says he may need to consult someone he knows, someone he studied with a long time ago," said Queenie, hiccoughing a little from all the crying. "He says there is someone in Paris who would know how to fix this. We might go visit them, he says."

"Well, that's something, isn't it?" Vinda said comfortingly. She kept rubbing at Queenie's back and said in a soothing voice, "He'll make it right. You know he can, and you know he will."

"How could Albus Dumbledore do this to me, Vinda?" Queenie turned her face and shook her head, throwing her hands up in surrender. She shrugged and then swiped at her tears. She sniffled. "Who is he to decide that I don't get to have a baby? Who is he to decide that my body doesn't work right anymore? How could he make that kind of horrible decision for me and then call it a _gift_ , say I'll thank him eventually? What kind of a person does something like this?"

"A horrible person," said Vinda plainly. "Albus Dumbledore is a horrible person, Queenie. Never forget that."

"I won't," Queenie assured her. She scoffed and gratefully accepted the handkerchief that Vinda Conjured and handed over. "I won't ever forget that the man who _once_ was in love with my husband was so jealous that he Cursed me into infertility."

Vinda frowned. "They were in love?"

"Well, no. Gellert never loved him back," Queenie said quickly. "Gellert and Dumbledore knew one another when they were young. Dumbledore fell head over heels in love with Gellert. But Gellert never loved him back. I've seen it all in Gellert's mind; I know the truth."

"Oh." Vinda seemed uncomfortable knowing all of this, and she just nodded. She frowned more deeply and murmured, "It doesn't matter. He loves you very deeply now. And he's going to fix this."

"I know." Queenie sighed and smiled weakly at Vinda. "Thank you."

Vinda tucked Queenie's hair behind her ear and quirked up half her full mouth. Just then, the sitting room door opened slowly, and Grindelwald appeared.

"Oh. Vinda. I wasn't expecting to find anyone else here." He looked tired and weary, and as Queenie slowly stood with Vinda to acknowledge his presence, she asked,

"Everything all right?"

"Hmmm… Vinda, will you kindly excuse us? I hate to interrupt, but."

"Of course. Goodbye, Queenie." Vinda squeezed at Queenie's hand, and Queenie waved to her as she left the room. She shut the door behind her, and Grindelwald aimed his wand over his shoulder, nonverbally locking the door. He came up beside Queenie and urged her to sit again, and then he'd taken Vinda's place.

"You've been crying," he noted. "About the Curse, I take it?"

"Yes." Queenie tried to dry her eyes, but she knew her face was red and patchy and swollen. She shook her head and insisted, "It's the most horrid thing in the world that he did that to me. And Tina didn't even seem to care when I told her that Dumbledore had cursed me at her wedding. She just said _Thanks for coming._ They're all just awful. Why are they all so awful?"

"I don't know. Listen." Grindelwald huffed a breath and stared at Queenie. He shrugged a little. "I've spent hours scouring books. I can't find the counter-Curse. I found something _about_ the Infecundum Curse, warning that it should never be used and that its use constituted a war crime during the Great Wizarding War of 1651. I found something mentioning _a Curse which renders a witch utterly infertile, a most vile spell that should never be uttered._ But I didn't find anything about counter-Curses for it."

"You said there was someone in Paris," Queenie said, her voice carrying just a hint of a whine. "You said you knew somebody who could help."

"It's a Dark wizard I know from my younger days," said Grindelwald, "an expert in Curses. He knows every Curse that was ever created, I think, and he knows every counter-Curse, too. But he's just about the unfriendliest creature to ever walk the Earth, and he doesn't like me very much."

"He doesn't like you?" Queenie raised her eyebrows. "Why not?"

Grindelwald shrugged. "Five years ago, he called me a _showman enthralled by his own shadow._ His name is Gaspard Valentin, and he lives in the Marais. If I can charm in into not despising me and convince him to help me, he'll possess the knowledge we need to reverse the spell Dumbledore cast upon you."

"You don't seem very certain that we're going to get the help we need," Queenie pointed out, reading the doubt on Grindelwald's face. He hesitated and then said,

"Well, I need to bring you with me, since you're the Cursed one and the solution may be a potion or something. I don't know; it just seems unwise not to have you there. But there's a problem. Valentin absolutely despises everything American. Most especially Americans themselves."

Queenie scoffed and demanded, "Why would he hate Americans? What have we ever done wrong?"

"Well, you see, that arrogance right there," Grindelwald began, and Queenie yelped,

"Arrogance!"

"Americans are notoriously arrogant, Queenie. It's what Valentin dislikes about me as an individual; he thinks I'm showy and arrogant. We need to approach this situation with grace and dignity and a great deal of… well, humility. Or, at least, feigned humility."

"I can be humble," Queenie huffed, and Grindelwald leaned to kiss her forehead.

"You'll do fine," he assured them both. "We leave for Paris tomorrow, all right? Pack an Expanded bag."

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter today, but I have Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party tonight (LOL) so I didn't have much time to write. So Queenie and Grindelwald are off to Paris to try and get this Curse reversed, but it sounds like dude might not be so receptive. Hmm. Sounds like a stern letter to Tina is in order before leaving, huh? Thanks so very much for reading and reviewing. Your feedback is valued like gold!**


	35. Patience

"So?" Queenie wrung her hands in the sitting-room of the Paris safe house. Grindelwald nodded at her and confirmed,

"When I scouted out his place in the Marais, it seemed he was still there. But it's a Sunday. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to visit him. I'd forgotten that he'd never receive a visitor on a Sunday."

"Why not?" Queenie asked, furrowing her brows, and Grindelwald cleared his throat.

"Valentin is an odd bird. He worships the Muggle Christian God. He goes to their Catholic churches and pays homage to him there with prayer and song, and he does it on Sundays. He reserves the day for worship; none are to bother him on what he calls the _Sabbath_."

"So we can't go to his house today," Queenie said, sounding disappointing. Her face looked disappointed, too. She looked around the Parisian home and shrugged. "What are we gonna do until then, just sit here and twiddle our thumbs while he goes to church?"

"You will find, Queenie, that patience goes a very long way in dealing with this man," said Grindelwald. "He is an eccentric, and we must tread lightly. You and I must both be humble and patient. Can you do that?"

Queenie let out a long, slow sigh. She glanced around the richly decorated parlour and hummed, "I suppose so."

"You are impatient," Grindelwald noted, "because of what was done to you. I understand. Really, I do. But today, we should distract ourselves from the idea of seeing Valentin. We'll go see him tomorrow. You'd have been impatient at Nurmengard, too."

"Yeah." Queenie's stomach growled, and she asked, "Can I go make us something to eat?"

"I'd like that," he told her. He watched her stalk through the house into the kitchen, where she pulled out her wand and started pulling out ingredients. She began to whip up some sort of beef stew, by the looks of things, and soon the kitchen smelled delicious. Grindelwald went to the dining room and sat, waiting, drumming his fingers on the table.

Gaspard Valentin was a strange creature, he thought, but they needed that strange creature right now. They weren't going to make it without him. They needed Leopold, their son, and without Valentin's knowledge of counter-Curses, Dumbledore's wicked deed would go unchecked. Grindelwald licked his bottom lip and stared at the table in the dining room as Queenie came walking in with bowls of stew. He gratefully accepted the stew, and when Queenie sat opposite him, he began spooning beef and carrots and onions into his mouth. He let out a low little moan, and Queenie asked hesitantly,

"Well?"

"Well?" Grindelwald repeated. He spooned more stew into his mouth and drank deeply from his red wine. Queenie clarified,

"Do you like the stew, honey?"

He scoffed. "Queenie, of all the reasons why I love you, your cooking is far and away one of the most profound. You do realise that, don't you?"  
She grinned and blushed, shaking her head. "It's just food."

Grindelwald folded his hands on the table and said softly to her, "I admire you immensely for your Legilimency abilities. I quite like your happy personality. I like your intelligence, too, and the way you smile at me. I find you very beautiful. But your cooking, Queenie, is unparalleled."

She laughed a little and waved him off. "You're making fun of me."

"I assure you I am not," he said, and he finished spooning stew into his mouth in silence. He drank more of his wine, and that got him thinking. Finally he looked at Queenie as she Banished the Scoured dishes to the kitchen, and he stared at the wine rack in the corner of the dining room, and he said, "Seeing as we've nothing but time and all manner of anxiety, what do you say to getting blisteringly drunk with me on good French wine?"

Queenie smirked. "What, we're just gonna drink a bottle of Merlot each?"

"Something like that." Grindelwald Summoned a few more bottles of wine, and soon enough they'd set to drinking. They sipped steadily, each of them taking a draught and then a rest of a few seconds before sipping again. After a few glasses' worth of wine, Queenie started to look blurry, and after his fifth or sixth glass, Grindelwald felt properly drunk. He finally started to feel a little sick, so he cast Nonemesis Charms on both himself and Queenie to stave off nausea, and he pushed away his empty bottle of wine. He poured himself another glass, accidentally sloshing it out of the top, having not realised he'd filled it so much. Queenie giggled madly at him, and he laughed a little as he slurped the wine out of the top of the Beaujolais glass and Siphoned it up off the table. Queenie asked him in a slurred voice,

"Do you remember, honey, the first time that you ever kissed me?"

"I do," Grindelwald answered confidently. "I asked you if you wanted to be excited, or something like that."

"No. No. That was the _second_ time you kissed me. I meant when you kissed me on the forehead. I have to tell you something," Queenie droned. "I thought you were gonna kiss my mouth."

"I also thought I was going to kiss your mouth, but you made a coward of me," Grindelwald informed her. He slid the full wine glass over toward himself and carefully picked it up, sipping at the wine and then deciding he'd probably had more than enough. He set it back down, and Queenie frowned rather adorably.

"Whaddaya mean, I made a coward of you? You're no coward, Gellert."

"I was, with you, at first," he admitted. "Kissing you hard in the snow that day took more effort than it ought to have done."

"Why?" Queenie demanded, and Grindelwald huffed.

"Because I _wanted_ you."

"That makes no sense!" Queenie squealed. "If you wanted me, why didn't you kiss me?"

"You made me nervous!" Grindelwald drawled. He met Queenie's eyes square on at last and gulped, nodding. "You made me nervous."

"I'm sorry." She seemed genuinely sorrowful then, but he shook his head and insisted,

"I don't mind any of it now. It's all… it worked out for the best, didn't it? Don't you think? Hmm?"

"Yes." She blinked a few times and demanded, "Why didn't my sister flinch when I mentioned Dumbledore Cursing me?"

"You said it in passing to her," Grindelwald noted, "at her wedding. Perhaps she didn't even hear you say it, or didn't believe you. Or… perhaps she's in on the whole thing and thinks he did you a favour. Could be either way, really."

He watched Queenie spin her empty wine glass slowly on the table and chew her lip.

"What if Gaspard Valentin won't help us because I'm a dirty, arrogant American? Or because he doesn't like you? Or because he doesn't know the counter-Curse? What if I'm stuck like this forever?"

"I will not allow you to be stuck like that forever," said Grindelwald simply. "If Dumbledore can find your sister and Scamander in Wales and undo my memory alterations in a flash, then I can quickly undo his little infertility Curse on my wife. Two can play at this game. I will not allow him to dissolve the vision I had. The one of…"

He trailed off then, remembering the sight of himself cradling the little blond-haired infant in his own arms whilst Queenie looked on lovingly. His eyes burned suddenly, and he finally finished,

"Leopold. I won't let Dumbledore destroy the idea of Leopold. So."

Queenie was crying a little now, he could see, and he wanted badly to make her stop. He wanted her to be happy, or at least distracted. Grindelwald heaved himself to his feet and stumbled around the table, tripping a little on the corner. He made his way over to her and pulled her up to stand. He put his right hand at the small of her back and took her other hand in his left one. He held her in the dancing stance, and she stared up at him, tears streaming down her confused face.

"There isn't any music," she said softly, and he sighed. He pulled her back a little, into a more open space in the dining room, and he yanked her more tightly against his body. She gazed up at him, her eyes glassy from drink, and she marveled. She was in awe of him, he could tell. She was desperately in love with him. Well, he was desperately in love with her, too. He let out another sigh and licked his lip, beginning to sway as he sang in a low, steady voice,

" _Verlass mich nie, Geliebte. Ohne dich bin ich gar nichts._ "

Queenie started to cry again. Her tears came fresh from her eyes, watering down her cheeks as she swayed to the two-step folk song that Grindelwald had begun to sing. He smirked at her and bent to kiss at her tear-streaked cheekbone, and then he sang,

" _Wenn du mich verlässt, Geliebte, Ich würde in das Nichtsein schrumpfen._ "

"Gellert." Queenie whispered his name as he hummed the song's interlude, and as they continued to sway, she whispered frantically, "I love you. I love you so much."

He answered by singing the last few lines of the song.

" _Du bist mein Leben, Geliebte. Wohnen Sie mit mir; Sei immer neben mir. Ich liebe dich. Ich liebe dich. Ich liebe dich so sehr._ "

He stopped dancing then and bent to kiss Queenie, taking her face in his hands and pressing his mouth to hers. He gently slipped his tongue into her mouth, stumbling a little on his feet from all the wine. She was so unsteady that he finally wrapped an arm around her and held her against him as he kissed her. She kissed him back eagerly, dragging her tongue over the roof of his mouth. When Grindelwald finally broke away, he murmured,

"I'm not a coward anymore around you, Queenie, but it's no mystery why you rendered me one."

"Well, I do apologise," she whispered against his lips, and he shook his head.

"I'm a damned fool for you. I can take that."

"You're my husband," Queenie pointed out, staring into his eyes, searching for regret. She wouldn't find any. Grindelwald nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Best decision I've ever made, marrying you," he declared, "and I've made many decisions - some very foolish and some brilliant. By far the most brilliant was marrying you, Queenie Grindelwald."

Her lips curled up at that, and she swiped away the last few tears from her cheeks. She asked quietly,

"Was he a sweet little baby? In your vision? Leopold?"

"Yes." Grindelwald nodded. "He'll be a sweet child when you bear him and nurture him. Our Leopold. And if Valentin can't help us, we'll find another way. But I think Valentin has the knowledge we need, Queenie. All right? So all we need to do is go in there humbly and carefully tomorrow. Promise?"

"I'll follow your lead," Queenie swore. She touched at her Deathly Hallows pendant and vowed in a drunken drawl, "Through flame over and over for you, Gellert."

"This we do together," he said. "Hand in hand."

As if to prove his point, he threaded his fingers through hers and began to lead her out of the dining room, his steps staggering and uneasy, and he murmured,

"Bedroom's this way."

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating; I have been very busy on the last few days of my vacation and couldn't write. Tomorrow is a travel day, so I'll have to see if I can write on the plane or not. Otherwise, the next update will be the day after tomorrow. Thank you for your patience with my travel.**

 **We'll have a brief lemon coming up followed by the visit to Gaspard Valentin to see if he can undo the damage caused by Dumbledore (darn you, Dumbledore!). Sorry for the super fluffy chapter, but I wanted to take a breather and re-establish some of the romance between these two among all the chaos. Thanks so much as always for reading, and PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you!**


	36. Valentin

"Gellert!" Queenie shrieked, drunk and exhausted, throwing her head back against the pillow in the dark red bedroom. Grindelwald hovered beside her, dragging his thin, knobby wand up the inside of her thigh.

" _Gaudens Maxima,_ " he panted, and Queenie finished again for what felt like the eighth or ninth time. It couldn't have been that, surely, but it felt like it. Maybe it was that many times; she'd lost count. He'd long since finished himself off with his hand, making an enormous mess on her belly that he'd eventually Siphoned up. Now he was just torturing her with his wand, and finally Queenie drawled, her voice hoarse,

"I can't. I can't anymore."

"Yes, you can," he insisted, but she pushed his wand away and shook her head, feeling sweat around her hairline. She stared at him, feeling bleary, and whispered,

"I can't."

He smirked and dragged his wand up her belly, around a breast and down her arm. She shivered at that, at the touch of his wand to her skin, and she murmured,

"I need a bath."

"Bathroom's across the corridor," he replied, sitting back naked against the pillows. Queenie dragged herself slowly out of the bed, stumbling a little, and swayed where she stood. She hesitated and then said,

"I think I'm too drunk for a real bath. Maybe just some Scouring spells."

"Allow me," said Grindelwald, and he aimed his wand at her. " _Tergeo. Scourgify. Scourgify Maxima._ "

Queenie felt her sweat dry, felt her body freshen, and she sighed as she climbed nude back into the bed. She and Grindelwald went beneath the blankets, and she snarled her body up with his as she mumbled,

"I felt some thoughts from you while you were making me come. Your Occlumency shields kept crumbling."

"Sorry," Grindelwald muttered. "I was distracted."

"It's okay, honey." Queenie raised her eyes from his chest and stared up at him. "You were thinking about Valentin. I saw his face in your mind. Why's he so scarred up? What happened to him?"

"I wasn't thinking about him, I didn't think. Must've been a stray thought," Grindelwald mused. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, his knowledge of Curses comes largely first-hand. He's been in countless duels; he made something of a career of challenging powerful Dark witches and wizards to duels for money. Spent decades doing it. But he lost a bad fight twenty years ago to a wizard in Warsaw. The Curse he took scarred up his face with all those rivulets and grooves, even with the counter-Curse. It's rumoured that he started attending Muggle churches after that fight. He almost died, and he turned to their god afterward."

"Interesting." Queenie chewed on her lip and asked, "Is he an Occlumens, do you know?'

"No idea," Grindelwald said, "but try to keep it a secret that you're a Legilimens, will you? You're my wife."

"Right." Queenie nodded fervently. "I'm just Queenie Grindelwald, Infertility Curse victim. Polite American."

Grindelwald curled up half his mouth and pet at her hair a little. "You'll do fine. It'll be fine."

* * *

"This is the place?" Queenie stared up at the five-storey, elegant row house in the Marais. She looked left and right down the quiet street and then focused on the shiny black door before her.

"Inside here, and then he's on the second floor," said Grindelwald. Queenie watched as he approached the black door, looking remarklably sharp and handsome in his black velvet tretch coat. He looked even more handsome than usual today, for some reason. It seemed like he'd put extra care into his appearance. He turned the brass knob on the door and pushed it open, and Queenie hurried to follow him inside. She'd opted for a simple black wool dress with a light wool cape over it, elegant black heels, and her pendant that had been a gift from Grindelwald. She walked behind him to the winding staircase, and they climbed the flights of stairs up to the second floor. When they'd reached it, they walked out onto the landing, and Grindelwald paused.

"Humility at all times," he reminded Queenie, and her stomach fluttered terribly. She pulled out her wand, waved it four times in a circle, dragged it to the side, and murmured,

" _Perceptio Loquela._ "

Her Babel Charm would allow her to understand Valentin's French thoughts. It seemed like that would be an important ability to possess today. She tucked her wand back away and nodded crisply at Grindelwald as she whispered,

"Humility at all times."

He raised his fist to the door before him, a heavy wooden door that was unmarked, and he knocked firmly five or six times. He took a half step back and folded his hands before him, pinching his lips and clearing his throat as if he were quite nervous. Queenie stood a little behind him but very near. Soon enough, the door opened with a creak, and the scarred man Queenie had seen in Grindelwald's thoughts was standing in the doorway.

Gaspard Valentin was a middle-aged wizard, perhaps ten years older than Grindelwald, with stringy greying hair hat reached his shoulders. He was tall and thin, and his narrow face had rivers of scar tissue criss-crossing it. His nose looked like it had been broken many times. He wore elegant but simple robes in dark grey wool, and he held a chipped-looking wand in his right hand. He raised his eyebrows as he stood in the doorway and observed,

"Gellert Grindelwald, come to pay me a visit. My, my. This is unexpected. Why have you come?"

"My wife, Queenie, has been struck with a Curse, Monsieur Valentin, and the counter-Curse is proving quite difficult to track down. I am hoping rather desperately that you might be of some assistance," said Grindelwald, and Queenie was very surprised to hear him speak that way. She stared at him for a second, and then back at Valentin, who was studying her.

"Queenie," Valentin said a bit harshly. "What sort of name is that?"

Queenie gulped and shrugged, smiling meekly. "It's just the name my parents gave me, Monsieur."

"An American. You married an American." Valentin flicked his eyes to Grindelwald, who said calmly,

"She is very unlike her compatriots, I assure you."

Queenie felt defensive at that, and she peered into Valentin's mind.

 _She seems charming, but it could all be an act for my benefit. I'll bet she's obnoxious when she wants to be._

"Monsieur," said Queenie very softly, and Grindelwald's eyes went wide at the way she'd decided to speak without being spoken to. She continued quietly, "The Curse that was put on me is an Infertility Curse. At least, we think so. And, you see, we were hoping to start a family."

Suddenly Valentin laughed, in a very cruel way that made Queenie's stomach churn. She backed up a little on the landing, and she felt Valentin's thoughts.

 _Grindelwald a father! Gellert Grindelwald with a mewling little infant! Hilarious! The very idea of it, of Grindelwald cradling some sort of screaming baby! What a ridiculous notion! A family!_

"It isn't funny," Queenie murmured, but Grindelwald reached for her hand and squeezed quite roughly. He released her and waited for Valentin to stop laughing. When at last he did, Grindelwald smiled mirthlessly and said,

"I realise the idea may seem ludicrous to you, Monsieur Valentin. Many things have changed for me in these last months. Priorities most of all."

"I see." Valentin's face grew a little more serious, and his thoughts did, too.

 _Can he mean it? Can Gellert Grindelwald actually want to be a husband and father? Could he crave something beyond simple domination? An intriguing notion. If I could help him achieve something beyond sheer power, I would surely aid his soul._

"Come inside," said Valentin, "and we'll see what we can do."

* * *

The interior of Gaspard Valentin's flat was crowded with the accoutrements of his global travel. Trinkets and little machines, feathered stuffed Beasts and enchanted clocks and more filled the space. When Grindelwald took a seat on the burgundy brocade divan beside Queenie, he felt mildly claustrophobic from all the chaos in the parlour around him. He flashed a small smile at Gaspard Valentin, who sat in a worn brown leather wingback chair opposite them and drummed his long fingers on its arms.

"So," he began, "Who Cursed you? And why?"

"Albus Dumbledore Cursed her," said Grindelwald simply, and Valentin nodded slowly.

"Then I already know why." He gave Grindelwald a meaningful look, and Grindelwald just sighed. He remembered the way he'd explained to Valentin years earlier about his blood pact with Dumbledore, for he'd been trying to work around it somehow. Valentin licked his lip and asked,

"Have you confirmed in any way that it was, indeed, an Infecundum Curse that was cast? Explain what happened."

"I was in England for my sister's wedding," said Queenie, "and he started talking to me. He told me I'd thank him later; that this was a gift. He pulled out his wand, aimed it at my lower abdomen, and incanted some spells I couldn't understand. I couldn't even really hear him; he was mumbling. Then I felt a sharp cold feeling in the same place where I get cramps every month."

Grindelwald shifted uncomfortably where he sat and stared at Valentin, who nodded.

"That's the Infecundum Curse, all right. Entirely thorough and permanent. No potion or simple spell can reverse it."

Grindelwald watched Queenie's eyes well up. She wrung her hands together and asked gently,

"Is there _anything_ that can reverse it?"

"There is a way to undo this magic," Valentin nodded, "but it involves profoundly bizarre and difficult magic. You must find a _willing_ fertility donor and then perform the Counter-Curse spells."

"A willing fertility donor?" Queenie's voice squeaked a little. "You mean we have to find someone - a witch - willing to permanently give up her fertility and… and… donate it to me?"

"That is correct," confirmed Valentin. "If you steal the fertility, it won't work. What you'll need is a witch who gladly and fully donates her fertility through transference spells, which I can teach you. Once the transference spells are complete, the mathematics are still the same. One fertile witch, one infertile witch. But this is the only way I know of to reverse an Infecundum Curse."

Queenie stared at Grindelwald, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing. They were both thinking of the same very dear friend, the same loyal servant.

Vinda.

 **Author's Note: Oh, poor Vinda! What will she say to this request? Did she ever want to be a mother, or will she give up that possibility in order to help her friend and the wizard she serves? Hmm… I wrote this on an airplane, so I apologize for it being on the short side! But I'll be back home from now on, so writing should resume a more brisk upload pace.**

 **The last few chapters have received very, very little feedback despite enormous readership. I really would be super grateful for your feedback if you are reading. Thank you so very much.**


	37. Fertile

"You're probably wondering why I asked you to have dinner with just me tonight, huh?" Queenie asked Vinda, who speared her salad and said lightly,

"It's a pleasure. I was honored. I hope you have good news from Paris, Queenie."

"Well. I have news from Paris," Queenie mumbled, looking around the parlour where hers and Vinda's dinner had been set up privately. She sighed shakily and finally said, "Look, this isn't a question I want to get the answer to by prying in your head, so… I'll just ask you. It's personal, I know. But… do you ever want to be a mother, Vinda?"

Vinda smiled rather dreamily and nodded. "Someday."

She took another bite of salad, and Queenie's stomach sank.

"You do?"

"Sieg and I had discussed it, but then everything fell apart with him," Vinda said. "Who knows? Maybe if things get more serious with Klaus? Maybe someday it could happen for me. I would love to be a mother. I don't know why. I know, perhaps, that I do not seem like the maternal type. But I want badly to use my wand and crochet a perfect white blanket to wrap up a little baby… to dress a little girl in perfect little clothes."

Vinda's beautiful eyes watered, and suddenly Queenie thought she was going to cry. She couldn't possibly ask Vinda to give up her fertility. It wasn't an option. She gulped and shook her head.

"They didn't have an answer for us in Paris," she murmured. "Not a good one, anyway."

"What did Monsieur Valentin say?" Vinda sipped at her red wine, and Queenie huffed. She shut her eyes.

"We could reverse the Curse. But only by taking fertility from someone else. It would have to be _donated._ Willingly given from one witch to me."

There was a long silence, and then when Queenie opened her eyes, Vinda was staring at her with her full lips parted. She blinked a few times and mumbled,

"You asked if I wanted to be a mother because you intended on asking me to donate my fertility to you. To become infertile so that you might bear a child yourself."

Queenie felt humiliated all of a sudden. She chewed her lip and bowed her head, and she touched at her hair.

"It sounds kinda awful, when you say it like that."

"No. It's not awful. It's only… well, of course, if you ask it of me, Queenie, I will gladly… You know that I serve the cause with all my heart and soul, and that means serving Grindelwald. And so of course I would… without question or…"

She trailed off, a tear appearing in her eye, and Queenie shook her head vehemently. She insisted,

"I would _never_ ask a witch who wants to be a mother to give up her fertility and give it to me, Vinda. I couldn't live with myself. Especially a witch who's the best friend I've ever had."

"It is in the service of the movement!" Vinda insisted, but her cheeks had grown red with the obvious effort not to cry. Queenie reached for Vinda's hand and squeezed.

"We'll find another option. Carrow or something."

"Carrow!" Vinda scowled. "You want Carrow's fertility?"

"I don't want yours!" Queenie shrieked. She stabbed at her salad and stuffed a bite into her mouth. She talked through a mouthful of food and mumbled, "I'm so sorry I even brought it up. I dunno what we were thinking."

Vinda gave her a knowing look. "You were thinking that I am a loyal servant and a devoted friend who would willingly give you my fertility if I did not wish to be a mother. And then I complicated things by telling you that I want a baby someday. Hmm?"

"Something like that." Queenie swigged at her wine. "I'm really sorry, Vinda."

"So am I," nodded Vinda. She stared right at Queenie and vowed, "I would do anything for you. For Grindelwald. Anything. Including giving up that idea of a little baby in a crocheted blanket."

"No, you will not," Queenie said flatly. She speared more lettuce and pinched her lips into a line. "We'll find another way."

* * *

"Are you certain you understand the terms of what's being asked of you?" Grindelwald said, sitting at his desk and staring across at the young woman seated in the chair across from him. Queenie stood beside him, shifting anxiously.

"I understand," said Nagini. She was dressed in a blue satin wrap dress, her hair in a braid over one shoulder. She fingered her braid nervously. "But what if my Blood Curse transferred along with the fertility? That would be my concern?"

"I wrote to my acquaintance in Paris to ask about this precise concern," said Grindelwald. "He assures me that even a Maledictus' Blood Curse will not transfer. The only thing that transfers is the ability to bear children. The child that is born is the fruit of the the two parents who conceive it, and it carries the traits of those parents alone. These transference spells do not bring along gifts, like Queenie's Legilimency, nor Blood Curses, nor Ancestry."

"We're really, really, really sure about that?" Queenie asked softly, and Grindelwald raised his eyes to her. He nodded once.

"Valentin absolutely assures me. Nagini's fertility is entirely safe to use with the spells, if she gives it freely."

"Well, I'm not exactly going to be having children," Nagini scoffed. "Me, who turns into a snake at night, pregnant? I'd kill the baby. Please, take my fertility. Save me a lot of worry and trouble and… yeah. Please. Just take it."

"Well." Grindelwald raised his eyebrows and looked from Nagini to Queenie. He gestured to the space behind Nagini's chair, and he said, "Nagini, this service is appreciated more than you know. Please, if you will both stand and clasp your right hands together."

Both of the women made their way out to the space behind the chair, and they joined their right hands. Grindelwald walked over to them slowly, pulling out the Elder Wand. He cricked his neck and stared at Nagini. She was solemn and noble-looking, tipping her chin up as she asked,

"Will it hurt?"

"I don't think so," Grindelwald said honestly. He aimed his wand at Nagini's lower abdomen, and she flinched at the action. Grindelwald felt uncomfortable doing it, too, but he needed to do this for the transference spells. He dragged his wand through the air from Nagini's abdomen to Queenie's, and he incanted firmly,

" _Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina. Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina._ "

Nagini gasped, grasping at her abdomen, and she moaned softly in pain. She gripped her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut, and Queenie asked gently,

"You all right, honey?"

"I'm fine," said Nagini through gritted teeth. "Keep going."

Grindelwald pulled the wand from Nagini to Queenie again. " _Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina. Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina. Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina."_

Now it was Queenie who let out a strange noise, and she whispered,

"Oh, Gellert, I'm bleeding all of a sudden."

"It'll be over soon, and we'll get you cleaned up," he promised her. She seemed uncomfortable standing there, with a magically-induced menstruation, a symbol of her new, restored fertility. She wrapped her arms around herself and met Nagini's eyes, and the two women seemed to share some sort of connection for a brief moment. Grindelwald dragged his wand from Nagini to Queenie for the final time.

" _Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina. Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina. Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilis Haec Femina. Transporto Fecunditas. Fertilitas Haec Femina."_

Suddenly there was a bright flash of white light, and then Nagini stumbled backward a few steps. Grindelwald reached out with his wand to catch her and keep her from falling. Queenie buckled over in pain from her cramps as she bled, and he murmured gently to her,

"Go to your rooms and take care of yourself in your bathroom. I'll be there shortly."

"Yes, Sir." She never called him that anymore, but it felt right just now, for some reason. She stood up, panting a little, and stumbled over to Nagini. She wrapped her arms around Nagini in an embrace, and Nagini actually hugged her back. Queenie murmured,

"Thank you, Nagini."

"Thank _you_." Nagini rubbed at Queenie's back and whispered, "Take very good care of whatever baby you have. Promise?"

"I promise." Queenie made her way out of the office, leaving Nagini and Grindelwald alone. Grindelwald nodded at Nagini and asked,

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine now. Thank you." Nagini chomped her lip. "Maybe I'm here for a reason. This reason. Maybe something good can come of this Blood Curse. Some small good."

"This is an enormous good." Grindelwald twirled the Elder Wand in his fingers and assured her, "You have done more for the Greater Good tonight than you can imagine, Nagini. And you will be rewarded. You may go. Rest. Relax. Thank you."

"Goodnight, Sir." Nagini headed out of the office quickly, and when the door shut behind her, Grindelwald took a shaking breath and shut his eyes, thinking of Leopold.

* * *

"Queenie?"

She walked out of her bathroom, Scoured and with an Absorbency Charm cast on herself. She was in a comfortable nightgown and her velvet dressing gown, and she smiled nervously at Grindelwald as he walked into her bedroom.

"Well, I'm bleeding in a way that definitely feels fertile," she told him. "That was very kind of Nagini."

"What use has a Maledictus got for fertility?" asked Grindelwald.

"You're really sure about the Blood Curse?" asked Queenie anxiously, and Grindelwald huffed a breath.

"I'm very certain. Now. You let me know once you've stopped bleeding, and a few days after that, we'll start trying. Hmm?"

"Right away?" Queenie grinned, and Grindelwald shrugged.

"Why not?"

Queenie felt happiness flush through her. Her heart thumped and her breath quickened. She asked quietly,

"Will you show me the vision in the skull? Of Leopold?"

Grindelwald hesitated. He hadn't shown her during the time of Dumbledore's Curse, because it seemed cruel to do so. But the vision was as strong as ever in his mind. He gulped.

"I'll show you," he said, "once we begin to try, all right?"

"All right." She smiled gently at him. He sighed and leaned on the doorjamb, and he said more seriously,

"There's going to be a rally in Munich in three weeks. And I have one message that I'll be spreading at that rally."

"Oh?" Queenie felt concerned. She approached him and asked, "What message is that?"

"The cruelty of Albus Dumbledore," said Grindelwald. "I am going to publicly state that Albus Dumbledore placed an Infecundum Curse upon my wife without her consent in an act of supreme cruelty and sadism."

She remembered what he'd said in Paris. Go forth and spread the word - it is not we who are violent. Queenie stared at him and asked,

"You're going to tell a crowd of people that I had an Infecundum Curse put on me by Dumbledore?"

"Yes. I am." Grindelwald left no room for debate. "The horrid acts of Dumbledore must be known to everyone. And they will be. He must be exposed for who he really is. Everyone thinks Dumbledore is some great and kind, benevolent teacher and leader in wizarding Britain. He is, in fact, a villain. And we will expose him. We will make people see him for who he really is."

"You never loved him?" Queenie asked impulsively. Grindelwald stared. He shook his head and whispered,

"No, Queenie, I never loved him. And whatever passed between him and me was a long time ago, and he and I are enemies now. Given what he did to you, he is my greatest enemy of all. And I will expose him in Munich, in three weeks' time."

Queenie sucked in breath and nodded. "Okay."

 **Author's Note: Poor Vinda! She wants to be a mother! But Nagini saved the day! Yay, Nagini! Who's looking forward to seeing the rally where Grindelwald "exposes Dumbledore"? Oh, and three weeks after the start of a period? That should be right around perfect conception time… huh. ;) Thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW if you get a quick moment! I value your feedback more than you know!**


	38. Rally

"Are you ready for this?" asked Grindelwald. He stood in the street outside the enormous beer hall where he'd gathered two or three hundred followers in Munich. This was an unconventional rally, for it wasn't being held in an atrium or athletic arena. Instead, everyone had been packed into a plaster-walled, wooden-raftered building commandeered from the German No-Majs. Steins of Butterbeer had been circulated around, along with salted pretzels and mustard, to prepare the crowd for Grindelwald's arrival. They were squeezed tightly around tables, onto staircases, and hovering round in standing room only spaces.

"Am I ready?" Queenie repeated. She shook her head desperately. "No. Not really." She fingered the red wool skirt of her dress and licked her lip carefully. Grindelwald had told her to wear red so that she would stand out beside him. She was to stand beside him during this speech, he'd said. There would be ten guards outside the beer hall, ready to fend off any enemies. Queenie glanced over to see Krall standing against the wall, his wand at the ready. She gulped and stared up at Grindelwald. "Okay. Let's just… let's do this."

He smirked down at her and tipped his head. He tucked her hair behind her ear and murmured,

"Tonight is an important night, Queenie, and you'll be beside me, hmm? Be ready to smile. Be ready to look angry. Follow my lead. Hold my hand when I take yours. Just do as I guide you, and all will be well."

She sighed heavily and nodded. "Should I cast a Babel Charm?"

"That's up to you," he said. "Do you want to know what they're thinking?"

She blinked a few times and considered her answer before saying, "It's better to understand than to have cacophony in my head."

"Then cast the charm," said Grindelwald. Queenie pulled out her wand and aimed it at the beer hall. She waved her wand it four circles and dragged it, casting the Babel Charm and tucking her wand away. She could feel the buzz of thoughts from the hall now.

 _I hear he's got some sort of announcement. Wonder what he's going to say._

 _It's such close quarters in here. We're going to be so close to him!_

 _I'm terrified to be here, but I want to hear from him._

"Let's go," Queenie said firmly. Grindelwald took her right hand in his left one, and he walked steadily with her to the front door of the beer hall. He pulled it open, and the moment people caught a glimpse of him, they broke out into wild cheers and applause. Queenie blinked through the obnoxious No-Maj electric lighting on the ceiling fixtures in the beer hall, and she took in the sight of the crowded hall, filled with tables, stuffed to the brim with followers. They were all cheering loudly, and their thoughts were filled with wonder, joy, fear, and thrill. Grindelwald put his palm to his chest, bowed a little, and gestured for quiet. It took a long time, but eventually silence fell over the beer hall. Grindelwald finally released Queenie's hand, and she took a few steps away.

"My brother and sister witches and wizards," said Grindelwald, loudly enough for everyone in the beer hall to hear him without being Amplified, "I have brought you here tonight to discuss an event in my own personal life which affects each and every one of us."

There were murmurs, and Queenie caught a few spare thoughts.

 _His wife is pregnant!_

 _They're going to have a baby._

"Recently," Grindelwald continued, holding up a hand to beg silence again, "my wife Queenie was the victim of a terrible assault. She was in England, attending the marriage of her only sister, Tina Goldstein, to the noted Magizoologist, Newt Scamander. While at the wedding, a guest approached Queenie and pulled out his wand. He told her that she would thank him for what he was about to do and asserted that what he was doing was a… _gift._ Then he Cursed her."

There were gasps, and more murmurs, and Queenie stared at the horrified faces studying her as she listened to their thoughts.

 _Poor creature! What did they do to her?_

 _Who attacked her?_

 _Why attack his wife? What a cowardly thing to do!_

Grindelwald waited for quiet again, and then he reached for Queenie, holding out his hand to her. She took his hand and stepped nearer to him, keeping her face stoic. He kissed her hand and held onto her as he declared loudly to the crowd,

"The Curse which was placed upon my beloved wife was an Infecundum Curse - a wicked, terrible spell designed to permanently destroy the fertility of a witch."

There were more horrified murmurs, more pitying thoughts, and Queenie gripped Grindelwald's hand tightly, feeling her eyes well a little. Grindelwald shouted over the muttering,

"The villain who Cursed my wife did so with the intent of destroying my ability to create a family! They did so because they believed I am not worthy of that joy, and so they robbed my wife of her body's ability to bear children. Without her consent, without her permission, this person stole from my wife her bodily autonomy and our future family!"

People whispered frantically in response to what Grindelwald was saying. Queenie's mind was inundated with thoughts ranging from sheer disgust that someone would do such a thing to wondering whether it could be fixed. Grindelwald waited for silence to fall again, and he held up a hand.

"I am sure, my brothers and sisters, that you are wondering who it was to cast this evil spell upon the beautiful, kind witch who stands beside me. Well. It was none other than… Albus Dumbledore."

Now the room erupted in talk, and Grindelwald just waited. He let people absorb what he'd said. Queenie was overwhelmed by all the shock in people's thoughts.

 _Dumbledore? I know they don't get along, but I never would have thought him capable of something like this!_

 _I knew Dumbledore was impulsive and rash, but this is too far!_

 _Damn you, Albus Dumbledore!_

"Yes!" Grindelwald cried. "Albus Dumbledore performed this base, depraved, corrupt act of dishonest and profane magic upon my spotless wife. He is truly evil, my friends. He is my enemy, and I come before you tonight to declare that unequivocally. Albus Dumbledore is my enemy. Through careful spellwork known only to a rare few, we have been fortunate enough to reverse the awful Curse that Dumbledore placed upon Queenie. But reversing his so-called _gift_ did not come without consequences, and Dumbledore did not intend for it to be reversed. This is a man who saw the potential of a child between Queenie and myself and decided that his best option was to Curse my wife into infertility against her will. What sort of vile, twisted mind, friends, reaches that conclusion?"

"Kill Albus Dumbledore!" shrieked a witch from the back of the room. "Kill him!"

Grindelwald tipped his head and waited for the affirmative cheers to settle down. He shrugged a little and said lightly,

"I could never condone the murder of an individual, no matter how he's wronged my family. Remember - we are not the violent ones. But it is true that he has wronged me at a level that cuts to the core. And that is why I brought you all here tonight… to share with you my own pain, and Queenie's pain, in the hopes that you will all understand what sort of a wizard Albus Dumbledore truly is."

"A despicable one!" shouted a man, and Queenie felt an onslaught of angry thoughts. She could feel tension rising in the room. These people wanted Dumbledore's blood. She stared at Grindelwald, still holding his hand, and she watched his face as he told them,

"Albus Dumbledore is a villain. Let there be no doubt. By the law of his own Ministry, he is a criminal for what he did to Queenie. At best, he is a blackguard and a scoundrel who violated my wife's body with his magic. An offender. An evildoer. Let it be known that Albus Dumbledore, in doing what he did, committed a vicious and destructive deed, and he did it on purpose. He is, truly, wicked. And he is my enemy. I brought you all here tonight to share that news, to share this truth with you. My own truth, Queenie's truth, and the truth of Albus Dumbledore. Go forth now and spread the word. Let it be known far and wide what Dumbledore has done. Let it be known that he is not the benevolent figure he paints himself to be, but is a villain in the truest sense. Go, friends, and spread the truth. Go now."

People began to Disapparate at Grindelwald's command. One by one, they vanished from the beer hall, which began to empty out until it was very sparsely populated. Finally there was nobody left at all except for Vinda, who was standing near the staircase looking solemn, and Abernathy, who was silent on the other side of the room. Klaus Reiner was all the way in the back. Grindelwald nodded at all of them and said,

"Let's go. Back to Nurmengard."

* * *

"Queenie."

"Honey, gimme a chance to at least get my shoes off…" Queenie staggered into their bedroom, but he slammed the door shut and shook his head. He yanked at her red dress, pulling it up and over her head. She yelped, standing there in her silk brassiere and knickers once he'd wrenched her dress off. She kicked off her shoes and laughed a little.

"Someone's worked up."

"You know how I get after speeches," he huffed, shucking his trench coat and tossing it to the ground. He made quick work of his waistcoat and white dress shirt, and he growled at Queenie,

"Undergarments off, if you please."

"Yes, Sir." She did some quick counting in her head. It was three weeks since they'd done the transference spells with Nagini. Three weeks since she'd started bleeding for five days. If he finished inside of her tonight, she thought, there was a very good chance she might conceive. She swallowed hard at that thought, climbing quickly up onto the bed. She lay on her back, her hands shaking at her sides as Grindelwald unhooked his Lederhosen-like trousers and shoved them down. He kicked off his boots and pushed his trousers away, following Queenie up onto the bed once he was naked. He stalked to hover above her, but he frowned when he saw how tense she was. He bent to kiss her lips carefully, bracing himself with an arm on each side of her, and he murmured against her mouth,

"What's wrong?"

"It's just… it feels like tonight might be the night, that's all," Queenie said, and Grindelwald sighed. He moved his mouth to her neck, and she couldn't help but relax a little. He massaged her breast with one hand, dragging his thumb over her nipple, and his tongue lathed beneath her ear. He whispered against her neck,

"It may not happen for a year, Queenie; you have to be patient."

She scratched at his scalp and muttered, "I know. It's not gonna happen the first month. But you never know. And I just want it so bad."

"I want _you_ very badly," he countered, moving his mouth to hers and kissing her for what felt like a very long while. As he kissed her, his hand tightened on her breast, and then slid down her ribs and stomach and settled between her legs. He began to finger her folds, to play with her nub, and Queenie moaned against his mouth. His thumb dragged circles around her clit, and he pushed two fingers into her, hooking them. She shut her eyes more tightly and kissed him harder as he pumped his fingers inside of her and dragged his thumb around her sodden clit. It started to feel good - so, so good. His other hand propped him up, but he crushed her mouth with his, and she finally lost herself. She bit rather hard onto his lip, eliciting a groan, and she came. Her walls clenched around the fingers that he had inside of her, and his thumb was pressed against her as her body's rhythmic contractions petered out. She ripped her mouth away, needing breath, and tipped her head back.

"Ohh," she huffed, and Grindelwald slid his hand out of her body. It was replaced almost immediately by his cock; he moved to hover over her and pushed right in. Queenie spread her legs wider and then curled them up around his waist. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, then anxiously slid her hands down his bare arms. He began to thrust, pushing his cock into her over and over again as his eyes met hers. He was so very handsome, Queenie thought. From his blond mustache to his uneven eyes to his sharp cheekbones, he was incredibly handsome. She stared into those asymmetrical eyes and whispered,

"Please give me a baby, Gellert."

"Well, I'm going to try," he smirked, and he jerked his hips a few times rather roughly. He shut his eyes, paused, and shook his head. Queenie cupped his jaws.

"What's the matter, honey?"

"I'm going to come," he declared, "but I don't want to yet. I can't help it; I was hard halfway through that speech."

Queenie giggled a little up at him, petting his face a bit, and she murmured, "It's okay. We'll do it again in a few hours."

He let out a long, slow breath, nodded, and whispered, "You know I love you very much, don't you?"

"Yes," Queenie confirmed. Grindelwald's breath shook as he began to thrust again, and his face twisted as though he were in pain. He tightened up above her, and he rammed himself into a few times before he finally grunted and hissed,

"Mmph, I can't… Queenie..."

"Yes." She felt her entire body tingle from head to toe as he came inside of her, as he filled her with his seed. She trembled with the idea of what he might be doing to her, right this very moment, and her eyes watered heavily. She breathed in deeply and a wrapped her arms around him again, letting out the breath and then whispering,

"Thank you."

"Beautiful creature," he murmured, bending to kiss her lips gently. Eventually he rolled off of her and lay beside her, leaving her to lie with the mess between her legs as she panted a little bit. They linked their fingers together beneath the blankets, and Grindelwald hummed, "What a wondrous mother you'll make."

Queenie's eyes seared at that, and she turned her head a little to stare at Grindelwald. "Do you really think so?"

"Yes, I really think so." He curled up half his mouth and nodded. He leaned in to kiss her gently. "Try to get some rest. It's been quite a night."

* * *

"Enter," called Grindelwald, drumming his fingers on his desk and itching for some reason to play the mandolin. His hands were practically strumming out an old waltz. As soon as whomever had come to his office was finished with him, he'd go fetch his mandolin and play for a while, he decided. He needed the break. But then he saw that it was Queenie walking into the office, and she had an envelope in her hands.

"I got a letter from Tina," she said simply, coming to sit opposite him. "I thought I should open it with you."

"That was good thinking," Grindelwald confirmed. "Go ahead."

Queenie tore open the wax seal on the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. She unfolded it and cleared her throat, and then she began to read.

" _My Dearest Queenie,_

 _Word has reached England about the rally in Munich. Grindelwald apparently announced that Albus Dumbledore placed an Infecundum Curse on you at my wedding. I remember now that you said something briefly about Dumbledore Cursing you. It was so quick, and I was so confused by it, that I wrote it off as you just being flustered and upset. I thought you were irritated by how the guests were thinking about you. I didn't take it seriously, what you said about him Cursing you._

 _For that, I owe you an enormous apology._

 _Queenie, I can't imagine the pain of what you've been through. Even if Dumbledore and Grindelwald are enemies, it's still unfathomable (and inexcusable) to Curse away a witch's fertility without her consent. Especially a witch like you, who's always wanted to be a mother. I can't wrap my head around what Dumbledore was thinking, why he did this. He's tried to explain it to Newt and me. Newt thinks he understands. I don't. You can imagine that it's been a little uncomfortable around here for a few days. It's not your fault; it's just that Newt thinks Dumbledore was trying to protect you from Grindelwald by putting the Curse on you. He also thinks Dumbledore was trying to protect 'all of us,' somehow, by disallowing Grindelwald from having children. But I just can't figure out a way to excuse what he did. I can't figure out a way for it to be right, to Curse a woman's body like that._

 _So I'm sorry, Queenie. I'm sorry that it happened to you. They say that you managed to get the Curse reversed through some sort of magic. I hope that didn't cause you or anyone else any serious harm. I don't know of any counter-Curse for an Infecundum Curse, so all I can do is hope that it wasn't anything too Dark._

 _I know there's nothing I can do from England. I know that I'm still allied with Dumbledore, who's the enemy of your husband. And that, in some sick, twisted way, makes you and me enemies, Queenie. I hate that. I hate it more than anything. I don't want to be your enemy. I just want to be your sister. So I'm just writing, as your sister, to tell you how sorry I am about what happened to you. And I hope you wind up with the family you've always dreamed of having._

 _I love you forever and ever._

 _Tina_

 **Author's Note: So, Grindelwald's spreading word of Dumbledore's evildoing far and wide. What will the repercussions for Dumbledore himself be, if any? And will Dumbledore try to get in touch with Grindelwald? Hmm… So what do you guys think? Did she get pregnant, or will they need more time? And if she is pregnant, is it little Leopold? Finally, who's ready for another good old-fashioned Nagini/Credence scene? Ooh, and Vinda being the best friend there ever was? Okay, let's charge ahead! :) Thanks for reading, as always, and THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING!**


	39. Congratulations

Grindelwald hummed as he walked around the corner a few weeks later. Everyone should already be gathered for group dinner, he thought; they were all waiting for him. He strode down the corridor and then froze, dipping into the shadows as he realised he'd interrupted quite an intimate moment.

Credence and Nagini were standing in the middle of the corridor outside the dining room. Nagini was tangled up in Credence's arms, and she was speaking softly to him.

"Do you like it here?"

"I like being a real wizard here," he replied softly. "I like that I can do almost all the magic their trained wizards can do, except I have the added power of the Obscurus."

"I'm proud of you," Nagini hummed back. Grindelwald watched her cup Credence's chiseled jaw carefully. "You are in control."

"I've never felt that way before," he told her, and his arms moved around her narrow waist. He held her close and said gently, "I'm so glad you're here, Nagini. That you joined us in Rome. It's different having you here. It feels… complete. I feel complete."

"I can't stay with you forever," she warned him, "or even for long. Every morning, it becomes harder for me to change back into my human form. Every night the change into snake form happens more quickly, almost on its own. Sometimes it happens during the day without me doing it on purpose. Soon enough I won't have control of my own. And one day, I won't change back."

"I know." He bent to kiss her, very gently, and she hummed against him.

"Do that again," she begged him, "before I never get to be kissed again. Credence…"

"Aurelius," he corrected her. "My name is Aurelius Dumbledore."

"Aurelius," Nagini amended in a low whine. "Please kiss me before we lose the chance."

The boy delved into a very, very deep kiss with Nagini then, cradling her lower back with his hand and petting her smooth hair. Grindelwald looked away for a moment, just to give them a hint of privacy. He was about to step out of the shadows and announce that it was time for dinner now when he heard Credence make a strangled sort of sound. He flicked his eyes back to the couple in the corridor, and he saw that Nagini was mid-transition from woman to snake. Grindelwald's mouth fell open. Surely she hadn't meant to change, not in the middle of kissing the boy.

Her Blood Curse was taking over.

"Nagini!" Credence gasped as Nagini fully transformed into a large, intimidating snake on the ground. Grindelwald finally stepped out of the shadows, and Credence's eyes widened. He stammered,

"S-Sir. She and I were… I'm sorry. We shouldn't have… She should be able to change back soon, but she'll miss dinner."

"We'll see to it that some food is brought to her chambers later so she has something to eat," Grindelwald said calmly. "Why don't the two of you go relax somewhere until she is able to change back, hmm? You're excused from group dinner. Go be with her, Aurelius."

The boy's eyes watered heavily, and he stared down at the snake that had coiled at his feet. He nodded at Grindelwald and said in a cracked voice,

"Thank you."

"Go, boy. I'm late." Grindelwald watched Credence walk off down the corridor with Nagini, in snake form, slithering behind him. Grindelwald sighed and pulled open the door to the dining room. Everyone inside was murmuring in quiet conversation, but they went silent when he entered, and everyone flew to their feet.

"I do apologise most sincerely for being so tardy this evening," Grindelwald said as he pulled out his chair at the head of the table. "I had most pressing business to attend to. Please, let us sit and eat without further delay."

He sank into his chair and eyed Queenie, whose face was a bit grey. He frowned and asked her softly,

"Are you all right? You're quite pale tonight."

"Sorry. I'm just tired." Queenie sealed this point by suppressing a yawn, and she smirked a little. "Really tired."

"Ah. Did you not sleep well?" Grindelwald asked. Mussels appeared in all of the shallow bowls before them, and he picked up the miniature fork at his right. Suddenly Queenie groaned,

"Mussels? Oh, no." She flew to her feet and dashed with running steps out of the dining room. The door banged shut behind her, and everyone went quiet. Grindelwald was left holding his small fork with a speared mussel on the end, staring wide-eyed at his followers as he wondered what had just happened.

Vinda Rosier gracefully rose from her chair beside Queenie's and set down her napkin.

"Please, _Monsieur_ , may I be excused to go help her?"

"Help her?" Grindelwald was more confused than ever. Vinda seemed to realise he had no idea what was going on, so she pulled down the hem of her tailored jacket and said carefully,

"Congratulations, _Monsieur_."

Suddenly it dawned on Grindelwald. Tired. Queasy. These were the early signs. He blinked rapidly and licked his bottom lip, and he felt a cold rush go through his veins. He gulped, or tried to, and encountered a knot in his throat. He finally found Vinda's eyes, read joy there, and told her,

"Go. Go help her."

" _Oui, Monsieur._ "

Her heels clacked quickly on the marble floor as she made her way out of the dining room. Grindelwald sat in breathless silence for a long moment, until at last Klaus Reiner picked up his wine glass and said broadly,

"To Queenie's health, and to your joy. _Prost!_ "

" _Prost!_ " Everyone else around the table raised their glasses to drink the toast, and Grindelwald nodded his thanks, popping his speared mussel into his mouth.

* * *

"I didn't want everyone to know so early," said Queenie from the bed later that night. Vinda had brought her in here and gotten her into a comfortable nightgown. Vinda had also seen to it that Queenie was dosed with Nonemesis Draught and stocked up with three more bottles, enough to get her through the rough stages without having to vomit constantly. Queenie squeezed a bit at her breasts and winced; they seemed to hurt a bit.

"Well, it was rather impossible to conceal it once you went running from the dining room," said Grindelwald from the bathroom, scrubbing at his face with soap and a washcloth. "Not that I blame you at all, mind. I'm sure those mussels did you in if you were already unwell. Is the Nonemesis Draught helping?"

"All better," Queenie said lightly. "I've known for a few days, but I was so scared. That's why I didn't say anything, except to Vinda. Because so often it ends before it even starts. So I just wanted to wait a little bit."

"I understand." Grindelwald came out into the bedroom in his black flannel pyjamas, and he picked up his mandolin from where it leaned against the wall. He carried it up onto the bed with him, and when he leaned back against the pillows, he arranged the mandolin against his stomach. He tuned it up, and Queenie giggled,

"What are you doing? Serenading me in bed?"

"I was going to sing to the baby," he said gently, and she was quiet for a moment then. He looked at her, and she seemed to be on the verge of tears. He shrugged. "Or not; it's a very, very small baby. Can't hear."

"Go on and sing to the baby, Gellert," Queenie told him. He smirked a little and remembered a lullaby he'd heard many times in his youth. He began to pluck out the moving line beneath the melody, and then he sang carefully,

" _Wovon träumst du? Was denkst du? Hast du Visionen von Süßigkeiten und Spielzeug?_ "

He flicked his eyes to Queenie, who had her hands crossed protectively over her flat lower abdomen. She rubbed there, though there was nothing really there yet. Grindelwald felt an odd, protective stirring inside of him. He would need to cast all manner of charms, Unbreakable Vows, and more to keep this child safe. And Queenie, too. This was his family. He needed to protect them both. His eyes seared like mad as he sang,

" _Träumst du von Weihnachten und Schnee? Träumst du von Sommer und Sonne? Sag es mir morgen. Schlaf jetzt. Schlaf jetzt. Schlaf jetzt._ "

He finished plucking out the lullaby, and as he did, Queenie swiped a tear away from her eye. She smiled at him and whispered,

"You're gonna be a really great father. You're already a great husband, and you're already a great leader of the world's most important movement. You're just… great. You're a great wizard, Gellert Grindelwald. But I know you're gonna be a great father, too."

He leaned over to kiss her lips carefully, and he murmured against her mouth, "This is far and away the most frightening undertaking I've ever attempted, you do realise, and there's no going back."

She scoffed and cupped his jaw. "You can handle it."

"I hope so," he said, pulling back and settling himself with his mandolin again. "How about another song?"

She grinned and nodded. "Yes, please."

* * *

"It's been three days."

"You can't communicate with her in any form when she's like this?" Grindelwald asked, staring at the snake in his office. Credence shook his head, looking exhausted and emotionally worn-down. Nagini raised her head up and butted it against Credence's hand, as if to try and get his attention. Credence pet at her head a little, but when he turned to Grindelwald, he asked,

"What if this is permanent? What if the time has come, and she can't change back anymore?"

"It may very well be her time," Grindelwald said regretfully. "She has an irreversible Blood Curse; she is a Maledictus. She is damned to be a snake forever. You know this, Aurelius."

"But I'm in love with her," he said, and he began to cry. His tears flowed freely from his eyes all of a sudden. He stared down at Nagini and shook his head. "I'm in love with you."

Suddenly the snake began to warp and shift. The reptilian flesh melted away, giving way to black silk and human skin. Nagini began to appear in her human form, standing tall beside Credence. She was wearing the same black wrap dress she'd been wearing three nights earlier outside the dining room. She threw her arms around him and exclaimed,

"I'm so sorry! I couldn't… I couldn't change back! I kept trying! I was doing everything I normally do, but it wasn't working! I'm in love with you, too, Aurelius, and I -"

"Let me write to my acquaintance in Paris, the one who helped us reverse Queenie's Curse," said Grindelwald, and Nagini pulled back from Credence to nod at him. Grindelwald drummed his fingers on his desk. "Let me see if there's any way he could help us at least delay the worst parts of this Blood Curse. Let's see if there is anything at all to be done to stave off the inevitable for just a while longer. Buy you two some time."

"Thank you," Nagini sniffed, and Credence wiped at his eyes as he nodded. But Grindelwald warned,

"No promises. Blood Curses are a nasty business. Even Valentin may have no answers at all."

"I understand," Nagini nodded. "I appreciate you trying."

"Go, the two of you. Go find Vinda and have her take you up to the cottage. Use your time together wisely."

Credence and Nagini skittered out of his office, and Grindelwald pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

 _Dear Monsieur Valentin,_ he wrote, _I am contacting you to inquire about the feasibility of prolonging the human existence of a Maledictus._

 **Author's Note: Poor Nagini and Credence/Aurelius! But, yay, Queenie's pregnant! Woo hoo! As you can plainly tell, this story will exceed 100,000 words; I'm not sure by exactly how much yet. I hope you'll stick with me. Thank you so much for reading. Your comments and feedback absolutely make my day.**


	40. Alone

"Queenie. Come in." Grindelwald gestured to her as she shut the office door behind her. Queenie had been summoned to his office by floating message whilst she'd been reading books in the library with Vinda. Queenie put a hand over her still-flat belly and walked toward Grindelwald's desk. She sat slowly opposite him and asked,

"Have you heard from Gaspard Valentin about Nagini?"

"Yes… unfortunately." Grindelwald put his lips into a straight line. He shook his head. "He says there's nothing to be done. He knows of absolutely no way to prolong the inevitable, to stretch the timeline of a Maledictus. Nagini will become a snake for good in her own time, probably sooner rather than later."

Queenie shut her eyes and sighed heavily. She warned, "When she does, Gellert, Aurelius will lose his mind. He'll go full Obscurial when Nagini is gone from him. I feel it in his mind - the impending grief. The anger he'll feel when she doesn't change back for the last time. You need to be prepared for his reaction."

She opened her eyes to see Grindelwald nodding. He drummed his fingers on the desk and considered,

"I may send them to the cottage alone for a few weeks, and if she changes into a snake and doesn't change back, he'll take his Obscurus form and rampage in the mountains. I'll let him know he has my permission to take out his anger on the trees and rocks when the time comes."

Queenie's eyes burned a little. "She gave me her fertility."

"She did." Grindelwald nodded. "We'll try to take care of her in these last days of her womanhood."

Queenie sniffled a little, feeling far more emotional about Nagini than she'd ever expected to feel. She reached up and brushed away a tear as she considered what it must be like to feel one's humanity slipping away day by day… especially when one was already in love. She couldn't fathom it. She tried to picture Leopold, having seen the vision from Grindelwald's skull, and she knew that she would never have Leopold within her if it hadn't been for Nagini and her fertility.

"Please see to it that she is comfortable," Queenie murmured, and Grindelwald bowed his head kindly. He pulled an envelope from the side of his desk and slid it over to Queenie.

"Mail, for you," he said. "From England. From the Ministry of Magic."

Queenie picked up the letter and studied its unbroken seal. She flicked her eyes to Grindelwald. "You didn't open it."

He cocked one eyebrow. "It wasn't addressed to me."

"Still." Queenie was surprised that he'd waited for her to open this, and yet, he'd never shown her anything but respect. Perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised. She tore at the wax and peeled back the envelope, pulling out the parchment inside. She unfolded it and read aloud,

 _Dear Madam Grindelwald:_

 _Your presence and testimony as a witness and victim is requested at the criminal trial of Albus Dumbledore in the Wizengamot._

 _Albus Dumbledore is being tried with the crime of Casting a Curse with the Intent of Permanent and Malicious Bodily Harm. Of course, the incident in question is the alleged Infecundum Curse he supposedly cast against you at the wedding of your sister, fellow witness Tina Scamander. Dumbledore, for what it's worth, is not contesting the idea that he cast the Curse upon you, but is protesting the idea of a sentence in Azkaban Prison._

 _If you should choose to come to England to testify, I can offer you complete clemency and safety on the condition that you come entirely alone and that you surrender your wand upon arrival at the Ministry until you leave our Headquarters._

 _The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is willing to overlook your marriage and the many misdeeds of your husband in order to work with you on obtaining this testimony. We look forward to your reply; the trial is on the twenty-sixth at eight in the morning._

 _Regards, Torquil Travers."_

Queenie lowered the parchment to her lap and raised her eyes to Grindelwald, feeling surprise ripple through her. They were actually going to try Albus Dumbledore with a crime for what he did to her?

"You mustn't go," Grindelwald said at once, shocking her. "Not alone."

"But I thought you wanted Dumbledore held accountable for what he did to me," Queenie protested, and Grindelwald ground his teeth a little.

"They've got Tina. They've got rumours. Dumbledore isn't denying what he did. They'll throw him in Azkaban for a year or two with or without you. And I am not sending my pregnant wife to England completely alone."

"Gellert!" Queenie hissed his name angrily. "I need to go and testify. I need to go there and tell them exactly what happened at the wedding, what we had to do to reverse it. I need to give them my truth. I have to."

"No, you do not," Grindelwald countered stoutly. Queenie scowled, flying to her feet and balling up Torquil Travers' letter in her fist. She tossed the letter down onto Grindelwald's desk and shoved her chair back.

"You really are a tyrant," she snarled, and without another word, she turned on her heel and headed for the door. But it clicked in front of her, and she realised Grindelwald had locked it wandlessly from behind her. Queenie huffed and reached into her dress pocket to pull out her wand, but a voice from behind her muttered,

" _Expelliarmus._ "

Her wand went sailing back behind her, and Queenie whirled around. She saw Grindelwald stalking toward her, deftly catching her wand and tucking it away. She growled at him and stormed toward him, clutching at his waistcoat and puffing a breath to get her curls out of her face.

"Let me go to England!" she demanded, but he shook his head calmly and insisted,

"I'm going to keep you and the baby safe. And that means keeping you near me. Be as angry as you like about it. You'll have to write back to Travers and tell him you're not coming."

"You gave a speech in Munich telling everyone how horrible Dumbledore is for what he did to me and now you won't even let me tell the Wizengamot," Queenie said in a shrill voice. Grindelwald tipped his head and put his hands on Queenie's waist. Her fingers convulsed on his waistcoat, and she chewed her lip as she stared up at him in rage. He trailed his hands up and down her ribcage and murmured,

"I love you too much to let you go alone, Queenie."

"Please." Her voice cracked a little, and she shook her head. "I need to do this, honey. Please."

Grindelwald bent down and kissed her very gently, and he finally whispered, "You'd have to be so very careful. More careful than you've ever been in your life."

"So careful," she hummed against his lips. "I'll be incredibly careful, Gellert. Now, please, can I have my wand back?"

He reached into his trench coat and pulled it out, slipping it into her hand, and as he stood up and away from her, he gave her a worried look.

"I don't like this one bit," he said. "Let that be known."

"Duly noted," Queenie nodded, but she flashed him her winning grin, having gotten her way.

* * *

"Level Two."

Queenie's heels clicked on the black tile as she exited the lift. She didn't care for the feeling of being without her wand. She tugged at the hem of her black satin caped tunic and smoothed her black satin skirt. She cleared her throat as she walked down the corridor with Torquil Travers at her side.

"Will I have to wait long before testifying, Mr Travers?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"No. They'll be ready for you straight away," he told her. "Your sister Tina is testifying as we speak. We may walk in on her testimony, actually."

They entered a chamber through an open square archway, and Queenie could see that it was a round sort of gallery with uniformed witches and wizards in elevated seats looking down upon the floor. Seated in one chair on the ground was none other than Albus Dumbledore, wearing a black three-piece suit. In a chair more towards the centre of the space was Tina, staring up a panel of witches and wizards who were questioning her. As Queenie and Travers entered, a low hum of curiosity came over the space, but Tina carried on with the witch who was asking her questions.

"What _exactly_ did your sister say to you that made you think Albus Dumbledore had Cursed her at your wedding?"

Queenie followed Travers to a chair against the periphery of the ground level, and she sat. Tina said confidently,

"My sister was complaining about the wedding guests being unkind to her, not liking her. She was speaking quickly, so at the time I wrote it off, but one of the things she said was that Albus Dumbledore had Cursed her."

There were murmurs, and Queenie found Newt Scamander in the stands. He had his head in his Scamander was seated near him. Queenie waited a moment until Newt stared down at her, and she read his mind.

 _Oh, of course she decided to actually come._

Queenie frowned at Newt's meanness. She turned her attention back to Tina.

"Your sister Queenie actually said that Albus Dumbledore Cursed her?"

"Yes, she did," said Tina. "She told me that on my wedding day, immediately after it happened, I think."

"Thank you, Mrs Scamander. We have no further questions for you." The witch up on the panel whispered something to the wizard beside her, and murmurs broke out through the gallery as Tina rose, walked away from the chair, and climbed the stairs back into the gallery. She went to sit by Newt, but he seemed more than a little irritated with her. She nudged herself closer to him and took one of his hands in hers, and finally he melted against her.

"Queenie Grindelwald!" called a voice, and Queenie snapped to attention. She could feel the thoughts of those in the gallery, some shocked, some horrified, most just curious. She rose from her chair as the witch on the panel said, "Please take the witness' chair to testify."

Queenie eyed Dumbledore as she stalked up to the chair where Tina had been. He stared right at her, and then he _winked_. He actually had the audacity to _wink_ at her. Queenie shivered with anger and horror and sank into the seat. She stared up at the panel. The elder of the two wizards asked,

"You are the wife of Gellert Grindelwald, are you not?"

Queenie wasn't sure how that was relevant, but she nodded and said, "Yes, sir, I am."

"We had agreed to keep her husband out of this, sir," said Torquil Travers loudly from behind Queenie, and she smiled just a little. The old wizard tipped his head and said,

"I'm not sure we can. You see, I think the reason Albus Dumbledore cursed this witch is because of who her husband is. Madam Grindelwald, do you suspect that your husband's identity has anything to do with why you were Cursed?"

"Let us back up a bit," said the witch on the panel. "Tell us what happened at the wedding, Madam Grindelwald."

Queenie relayed to them the story of Dumbledore pulling out his wand, telling her she was receiving a gift and would thank him later, the feeling of icy discomfort in her lower abdomen. She told them everything, including the way Vinda and Klaus had come running up to defend her. She left no detail of the story out, and by the time she was finished she was breathless. She stared up at the panel and studied their thoughts.

 _That is rather horrifying, no matter who her husband is._

 _Not sure there's an excuse for that under any circumstances._

 _What an uncomfortable tale._

Next they asked her about reversing the Curse, and she explained about seeking the expertise of an acquaintance in Paris. She discussed, in brief, what they had to do to reverse the Curse itself.

"A very dear friend of ours agreed to surrender her fertility and donate it to me, and now I am actually… I am pregnant." Queenie turned her face to look at Tina, whose expression broke into a mad grin. Her sister's wide eyes watered at once, and Newt looked very surprised. People muttered and talked among themselves, until a gavel was banged demanding silence.

"Albus Dumbledore!" cried the witch on the panel. "Do you deny casting the Infecundum Curse upon Queenie Grindelwald at the wedding of Porpentina and Newton Scamander?"

Dumbledore sat up a little straighter in his chair. "I do not deny it," he said, "but I maintain that I was doing the right thing when I did it. I was attempting to protect Queenie, and to protect all of us, from Gellert Grindelwald. This is not a man who should be allowed to -"

"Silence! We did not ask for your opinions!" said the older wizard on the panel. He conversed with the other two for a long moment and then said, "Albus Dumbledore… for the crime of Casting a Curse with the Intent of Permanent and Malicious Bodily Harm, you have been sentenced to one year in Azkaban Prison. Take him away."

Dumbledore rose slowly and went without fuss as two guards came in and escorted him out of the Wizengamot chamber. Queenie's heart thumped in her chest. She stood shakily from her chair, wondering what Grindelwald was going to think of the news that Dumbledore had been carted off to Azkaban.

But just then, someone flew to their feet in the gallery of onlookers, and Queenie caught a stray thought.

 _If this earns me a Dementor's Kiss, it will be worth it._

"Down with Gellert Grindelwald! _Avada Kedavra!_ "

Queenie leaped, shoving the chair and dodging the Killing Curse. It went whizzing by her in a flash of green light, slamming with a _bang!_ into the wall behind her. She tumbled to the ground with the witness chair, caught up in it, sputtering, hearing screams, seeing flashes of light as spells went off. And in that moment, having just barely survived an assassination attempt, she realised Grindelwald had been right.

She shouldn't have come alone.

 **Author's Note: Ohhhhh nooooo. An assassination attempt! Will she make it out of England with her wand and her life? And what will happen to Nagini? Apologies for the delay in updating. Ironically, last night I saw** _ **Crimes of Grindelwald**_ **again (preventing me from writing) and today I was at** _ **HP and the Chamber of Secrets**_ **in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, so I wasn't able to write until tonight. Thank you for your patience and for reading. Kindly LEAVE A REVIEW if you get just a spare moment. Thanks!**


	41. Fiendfyre

Gellert Grindelwald stormed into the atrium of the British Ministry of Magic. He'd received a letter from Queenie from Tina Scamander informing him that someone had tried to murder Queenie at the trial of Albus Dumbledore, and that Queenie had been admitted to St Mungo's, the British Wizarding hospital, to be certain that the way she'd fallen to dodge the Killing Curse hadn't affected her baby.

He'd come alone, for he didn't want a massive battle, not when Queenie was in hospital. He couldn't afford for them to try and use her against him. He'd come to talk, not to fight. But he stormed through the atrium, and all around him, people gasped in horror and shock. Grindelwald kept the Elder Wand out at the ready, and he glared at the witches and wizards who eyed him with suspicion at best and utter fear at worst.

"Madam," said Grindelwald said to a passing witch, who jumped in terror and staggered backward. She nodded frantically, and Grindelwald tipped his head. "Where is the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? Torquil Travers?"

"L-L-Level Two," she stammered. Then she rushed away and exclaimed to a younger wizard, "That's Gellert Grindelwald! Should we -?"

Grindelwald ignored them. He walked toward the bank of lifts, and as he reached them, he saw a young witch go skittering away in absolute terror. He just inclined his head politely to her, and when the lift opened, he stepped inside. A voice called,

"Hold the lift, please!"

A wizard came jogging up to the lift, wearing stately dark robes, but he froze when he saw Gellert Grindelwald standing inside the lift. His eyes went round as saucers, and he looked like he might cry.

"I'll, erm… I'll catch the next one…" He backed away slowly, and Grindelwald smirked a little as the lift door slammed shut. He pushed the _2_ button, and the lift began to zoom downward. When Grindelwald reached the second level, the door opened, and he stepped out. He fingered the Elder Wand carefully in his hand, and he stepped forward until he saw a sign overhead that read, _Department of Magical Law Enforcement._ Grindelwald stepped under the sign, slowly approaching an information desk where a bored-looking witch was thumbing through a copy of _Witch Weekly_ magazine. She blew out a large bubble of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and popped it, and she drawled,

"State your business, please."

"I need to see Torquil Travers immediately," said Grindelwald, and the witch chomped her gum, turning a page in her magazine.

"Mr Travers is very busy. You'll have to wait."

"I'm sure if you told him that Gellert Grindelwald has come to see him, he'd step out of his meeting," said Grindelwald with lethal calm in his voice. The witch looked up slowly, and her mouth fell open so widely that her gum fell right out of her mouth and dropped onto the page of her magazine. She gasped, her breath shaking, and she reached for her wand. She aimed it at Grindelwald and demanded,

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Grindelwald tipped his head. "I'm sure you heard what happened to my wife in the Wizengamot. That's what I'm doing here, Miss…?"  
"Longbottom," she whispered, sounding horrified. She rose and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'll go fetch Mr Travers."

"Thank you," said Grindelwald, spinning the Elder Wand carefully between his fingers. He waited for only two minutes or so before a middle-aged wizard in grey work robes came stalking quickly out from a row of office doors. He looked very alarmed to see Gellert Grindelwald, and the second he saw him, he said,

"I ought to have you taken into custody at once."

"My entire army of followers knows I'm here," said Grindelwald, which was the truth. "They stand poised and ready to attack and reclaim me should you try anything like that. I am here to talk, Mr Travers. I need to know why it is that your security was so lax as to allow my wife to undergo an assassination attempt during Dumbledore's trial."

"We screened everyone who came into the chamber. Why Mr Gregory Townsend took it on himself to attempt to kill her, we still don't know. His interrogation showed him as a lone wolf, and we've since thrown him into Azkaban."

"Where I can't reach him," Grindelwald growled in frustration.

"We don't practise the death penalty, strictly speaking, in Britain," said Travers. "I can't let you murder him."

Grindelwald scoffed. "The man threw a Killing Curse at my pregnant wife. Because of _your_ insufficient security measures."

Travers bristled. "We had guards in there. We had protective enchantments. Nothing can shield from a lunatic determined to cast an Unforgivable in a -"

"Your excuses bore me and irritate me," Grindelwald said in a low, serious voice. "My wife almost died. She is in hospital now to ensure that she doesn't miscarry our child as a result of leaping out of the way of the Killing Curse. If I lose my baby because of this, Travers, it'll be your head, and I mean that."

"Scamander!" called Travers nervously, and Theseus Scamander appeared from the corridor behind him. He froze at the sight of Grindelwald, and he immediately pulled his wand out.

"Steady, boys," said Grindelwald. "I didn't come here to kill you, but I will do it."

"Or perhaps it is us who'll be taking you to Azkaban. You like being locked up, don't you?" asked Travers tauntingly, and Grindelwald shot back,

"In fact, I disliked the sensation so much that I broke out of custody with relative easy, you'll recall."

"Mr Travers, we need to get him into custody immediately," said Theseus Scamander. "There's no time to waste; he's a danger to all of -"

" _Stupefy._ " Grindelwald send Scamander shooting back against the wall with a quick flick of his wand, and he reached with his left hand into his pocket for the cube he'd created to bypass all of the anti-Apparition charms inside the Ministry. Queenie had used it before, and so had he. They had much experience with breaking themselves out of this place. And he was about to do it again, he thought. But first, he needed to set a little fire, he thought. These people needed to be taught a lesson.

He hadn't intended on violence, Grindelwald thought as he used the Elder Wand to cast blue Fiendfyre throughout the office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The screams of the Ministry employees told him all he needed to know - the flames were working their way into every nook and cranny. He hadn't been intending on violence, but, then Queenie hadn't been intending on being assassinated when she'd come to London.

It was too bad, he thought, that Theseus Scamander was about to be burned to death. That would not sit well with Tina, and because it wouldn't sit well with Tina, it wouldn't make Queenie happy. Reluctantly, Grindelwald cast a Flame Retardant Charm around the boy's Stupefied body to shield him from the Fiendfyre. He watched as the flames licked the walls, as the chandeliers came crashing down. He watched as the fire consumed the space around him, felt its heat on his flesh. He pushed it out from him and flicked his eyes to the protected Scamander boy. He saw Torquil Travers lying on the ground, burning. Then he squeezed the cube in his pocket and Disapparated, off to St. Mungo's Hospital.

* * *

There was screaming.

Queenie sat up in her hospital bed and looked around her to see Mediwitches and Healers huddling in the corner, to see patients murmuring to each other. Why was there screaming from downstairs?

And then she saw him. Her husband. And she understood. They were all completely terrified of him. Gellert Grindelwald had come to St Mungo's Hospital, and everyone was horrified. Queenie smirked a little bit as he stalked quickly toward her bed, his uneven eyes determinedly fixed on her, but his face was serious in response. He ignored the reactions of those around him and walked right up to Queenie.

"What have they said?" he demanded. "Is there any chance you'll miscarry?"  
"No," she assured him. "I'm fine. They were going to let me leave in the morning."

"Well, I'm afraid we have to leave now," Grindelwald said. "I've set the Ministry of Magic on fire… Fiendfyre."

Queenie's mouth fell open. "Thank goodness Tina and Newt are at their house today. They came to visit me. But Theseus…"

"I protected him with a Flame Retardant Charm," Grindelwald said impatiently, and he watched relief wash over Queenie's face. He cleared his throat. "I couldn't get at the bastard who actually tried to kill you; they've already put him into Azkaban."

"Someone call the Ministry!" cried a voice, and Grindelwald huffed a breath.

"We have to go. Now. They tried to arrest me at the Ministry; that's why I had to retaliate with Fiendfyre. We need to leave. Let's go."

He scooped her out of the bed and into her arms, and suddenly Queenie thought of the British Ministry burning, thought of his blue fire coursing through it like blood through veins, and her eyes prickled. She couldn't believe, all of a sudden, that she'd married someone so destructive. And yet, he was a savior, too. She stared up at him as he Disapparated, and when they came to, they were inside the London safe house.

"Don't you _ever_ do anything like that again!" Grindelwald hissed as he set Queenie down. He glared down at her, and she stared up at him in fear. She shook a little where she stood and whispered,

"Don't do _what_ , Gellert?"

"Sir," he growled. " _Don't do what, Sir?"_

She felt tears come to her eyes, and she nodded. "You're angry at me for coming to England alone."

"You were almost killed, Queenie!" he exclaimed. "You were almost _killed_. You and our child. Both of you."

"I dodged the Killing Curse," Queenie mumbled, and Grindelwald scoffed.

"By a hair, from what I hear. You were very, very nearly killed. I almost…" His voice trailed off and cracked. His face twisted oddly. "I almost lost you, Queenie."

He stalked into the sitting room, his lederhosen-like trousers and his boots giving away just how foreign he was in this country. He pulled at his black trench coat and twirled his wand nervously, and he told her,

"You will not be going _anywhere_ on your own from now on, Queenie. This is my command. These are my orders. You are to stay by my side whenever possible, and if you can't be with me, you'll be with Vinda, Klaus, Krall… never alone. And once the baby is born, there's to be a set of several Unbreakable Vows to protect him, all manner of protective enchantments set up over the both of you. In fact… _Protego Homine Maxima._ "

He aimed his wand at her, and a warm wash of a protective spell came over Queenie. It wouldn't protect against any Unforgivables, she knew, but it was better than nothing.

"Should have done that before you left," he lamented, but Queenie reminded him,

"It wouldn't have helped with Townsend."

"It would have done me well me to send Vinda with you in secret with an Unbreakable Vow to protect your life," Grindelwald lamented. Queenie's lips parted, and she shook her head.

"Gellert, nothing you could have done would have stopped that madman from casting a Killing Curse my way. It was sheer luck, yes, that I dodged him. Well. It wasn't just luck. I heard his thoughts just before he cast the Curse."

"What was he thinking?" Grindelwald asked tightly, twisting his wand in his hands. Queenie wet her lip with her tongue and told him,

" _If this earns me a Dementor's Kiss, it will have been worth it._ Something like that."

Grindelwald shut his eyes and shook his head. "Come here."

Queenie walked toward him and threaded her arms up around his shoulders.

"You spared Theseus Scamander?" she asked gently, and he nodded.

"I knew you'd need me to," he said. "The rest of them… well. It will have been carnage by now. I suppose you'll want me to feel very sorry for the loss of life, but I can't. Not after what happened to you there."

"I can't expect regret from you," Queenie assured him, "and I won't. I know you you are. I know my husband. You're Gellert Grindelwald. And I won't go anywhere alone again."

He bent to kiss her, crushing her mouth with a punishing press of lips, and she lost herself to him just like she'd done that very first time in the snowy woods.

 **Author's Note: Note to self - don't put Gellert Grindelwald's family at risk, or he'll burn down your entire workplace with Fiendfyre. Guess Grindelwald's going to be extra-special-careful with Queenie from now on, huh?**

 **We're going to see a time jump of a few months in the next chapter. (Woo hoo!) We are definitely approaching the grand finale of this story, and I would like to thank you so much for reading this far! Please do review if you get a quick moment.**


	42. To The Stars and Back

"My brother and sister witches and wizards, I'm sure you are very well aware of the events that transpired several months ago at the British Ministry of Magic. And because of those events, our movement is at war with the British Ministry and several other Ministries around Europe and America." Gellert Grindelwald paced around the same athletic arena in Vienna where he'd given a speech many months earlier. He paced in a slow circle, the late summer heat bearing down upon him. Thousands of eyes studied him in silence as he continued,

"A lazy and incompetent Ministry. A murderer. Is there any one among you who would not have done what I did?" called Grindelwald. He was met with a cry from Vinda Rosier in the front row.

"We all support to the stars and back, _Monsieur!_ "

A great cry went up then, a cry of affirmation. Grindelwald smirked a little and found Queenie's eyes where she stood beside Vinda. Queenie cradled her growing belly in her hands, showing off the round shape of it, and she nodded. Grindelwald waited for the cheers to die down, and he turned slowly to the other side of the arena.

"The time has come, brothers and sisters," he said, "for us all to fight against our enemies and do what is right. It will not be easy, but it is the right thing to do, and therefore we are left with no choice. We must fight to prevent the depravity and wickedness of the _non-Magiques,_ the No-Majs, the Muggles. We must fight to emerge from the shadows. And we must fight to protect ourselves. We must fight, and we will do so together. All of us, hand in hand. Who is with me, for the Greater Good?"

Another huge cry went up, and then people started to illuminate their wands and hold them aloft. Grindelwald nodded slowly and screamed out over the noise of the crowd,

"For the Greater Good, my friends! For the Greater Good!"

Fifteen minutes later, he was dragging Queenie by her wrist into their quarters at Nurmengard.

"Slow down, honey; I can't walk that fast in heels," she giggled, but he pulled her through the door and slammed it shut, muttering,

" _Colloportus._ "

"Queenie." Grindelwald felt an ache inside for her, a thrumming that went straight from his stomach down to his groin. It echoed up into his chest, and seemed to throb down his arms into his fingers. He wanted to take her up against the door, but that wasn't possible anymore, not with her sizeable belly. She was about six months along now, and she was certainly starting to feel the pregnancy heavily in her body. She was still thin and beautiful, somehow. Her face had filled out just a little, and her arms had a bit more meat on them, but she was still lithe and lovely. Vinda had seen to it that Queenie had been the recipient of an elegant, comfortable maternity wardrobe. Today she wore a simple black satin dress that was cut beneath her breasts to show off the curve of her stomach.

"I need you, Queenie," Grindelwald insisted. "I need you right now."

She curled up half of her mouth at him and stripped off the black dress, standing there with her breasts looking irresistible in pale green lace. She peeled off her knickers and shoved them down, kicking them aside with her shoes and stockings. Grindelwald dragged her over toward the bed, still fully clothed, and he pushed her very gently down onto the edge of the bed. Queenie arranged herself on her back, her bum on the edge of the bed, and Grindelwald rushed to unbutton his trousers. He aimed the Elder Wand between her legs and barked rather harshly,

" _Gaudens Maxima._ "

"Ahh- _ahhh!_ " Queenie arched up a little and fisted the blankets as she came hard. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her full lips parted. Grindelwald pressed his fingers between her legs and felt the contractions of her walls as she found her pleasure. Her climax was long and intense, and he smirked a little as his cock went more solid than ever in his trousers. He finally reached into his clothes and pulled himself out, shoving the trousers down and stroking his cock a few times.

"Need you _now_ , Queenie," he said again, and Queenie nodded where she lay on the bed.

"Okay," she panted, rubbing at her swollen belly rather protectively. She cradled herself in her hands and murmured, "Be gentle. Please."

Grindelwald parted her legs and aimed himself there, pushing himself straight into her body. He was careful; this position allowed him greater depth than he should give himself. If he thrust himself to the hilt, he might hurt her, he thought. So he took her with shallow, quick strokes, and his own eyes shut as pleasure washed over him. His head tipped back; every thrust felt better than the last. He wasn't going to last like this. He never could manage to last after a speech. After speeches, he was always as hot-blooded as a man on his wedding night, as a teenager. He growled a little and chewed his lip, taking her with quick, careful pushes of his cock. She was still so tight around him, so warm in her wet embrace of his member. Grindelwald gulped hard and lost himself, spilling his seed into her and blinking quickly as he groaned.

White-hot bliss crashed through his head, and his ears rang loudly. He bent down and kissed Queenie, feeling her belly against his as he did. He touched her there carefully and whispered,

"Did I hurt you?"

"No," she assured him, and as he slid out of her, he kissed her again. She slithered back against the pillows, propping herself up and staring at Grindelwald as he tucked himself away. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and she noted,

"Less than five months until he's out of Azkaban."

Dumbledore, she meant. Despite the destruction of the entire British Ministry of Magic by Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore's one-year sentence for Cursing Grindelwald's wife had been upheld by what remained of the Wizengamot. A crime was still a crime, they'd decided. Of course, they'd also put a bounty on Grindelwald's head, with a prize of fifty thousand Galleons awarded to whomever could capture or turn in Grindelwald alive to the British Ministry. The French Ministry, being an ally of the English, had issued a similar reward. Queenie Grindelwald was also wanted, given her husband's identity. She hadn't heard a word from her sister, to the best of Grindelwald's knowledge, since the Great Ministry Fire. Probably, Tina had been too devastated at having lost friends and acquaintances to the Fiendfyre to write to Queenie. In any case, Queenie had been estranged from Tina, Newt, and the rest of her past for almost half a year.

"He's a little low on allies, after going to Azkaban and after what I did at the Ministry," Grindelwald noted. "He'll inevitably try and sic the Scamander boy on me again. It won't work. I've got a far greater arsenal than he's got right now, and he knows it. It's an uneasy truce, but ultimately, he'll have no choice but to let me do what I want."

"What if he figures out a way around the Blood Pact?" asked Queenie, and Grindelwald flashed her a scowl. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he heard banging on the door outside their bedroom - the door that led from the sitting room to the corridor. Grindelwald startled and said to Queenie,

"Get dressed."

He unlocked the bedroom door and hurried out into the sitting room, shutting the door behind him so Queenie could dress in privacy. He rushed through the sitting room and opened the door leading from the sitting room to the corridor. He was about to scold whomever had the audacity to bang on his private quarters, but then he saw Vinda standing there, breathless.

" _Monsieur_ ," she panted, "I did as you asked of me and went to the cottage to check on Aurelius and Nagini. I found her in snake form in the snow - she was half-starved and freezing to death. Aurelius had destroyed the entire cottage and all the trees and rocks on the mountain. He's gone. I brought Nagini back here to Nurmengard; Klaus is working with books on Beast care to get her fixed up. But it seems that Aurelius went into his Obscurus form and vanished, _Monsieur._ "

Grindelwald sighed. Credence had been up at the cottage with Nagini for over a month. She must have changed their first night up there and not changed back. He must have determined that her time had come and she would be a snake forever, and then lost his temper and transformed into his Obscurus form.

"He'll be back," Grindelwald said. "In the meantime, let us take fine care of Nagini. Feed her well and see to it that she is warm. You never know when she might change back."

" _Oui, Monsieur,_ " Vinda nodded. She seemed to sense that she'd interrupted something, and she glanced behind Grindelwald and murmured, "I apologise…"

"It's perfectly fine, Vinda," he said. "Congratulations, by the way. I heard about you and Klaus."

Vinda smiled just a little bit. "Queenie assures me that he is a good man who thinks only kind things about me. I think he'll make a fine husband."

"So he shall," Grindelwald nodded. "When will you marry?"

"In a very low-key ceremony," said Vinda, "with only one witness - Queenie."

"Shall I officiate?" Grindelwald asked lightly, and Vinda smiled warmly.

"It would be an honour, _Monsieur_ , if you would consider it."

"Of course. How about next week, if you want so little pomp and circumstance, then?" He glanced over his shoulder, for Queenie had come walking out of the bedroom at last.

"I overheard everything," she said, "about Nagini? And Aurelius? That's awful."

"Klaus is trying to put her to rights," Vinda assured Queenie, who nodded and came up beside Grindelwald. She reached for her friend's hand and said gently,

"Next week, then, honey? We gotta get you a dress. Something… completely different, huh?"

 _Different from the last time_ , she meant, and Grindelwald tried not to smirk a little. He said to Vinda,

"Have Klaus send word when he's stabilised Nagini."

" _Oui, Monsieur._ " Vinda bowed her head deeply and winked at Queenie, turning to walk quickly away.

 **Author's Note: So Vinda's getting married to Klaus, Dumbledore's still in prison six months later, the sisters are estranged, and it looks like Nagini is permanently a snake. My goodness. Thanks for reading - please do review if you can spare the moment to do so. I appreciate your feedback more than you know, especially as we very quickly approach the end of this tale.**


	43. Clara

"A handfasting is the joining of two magical souls in the union of marriage. Do you, Klaus Reiner, agree to be joined forever in marriage to this witch?" Grindelwald stood before Klaus and Vinda, who looked magnificent in airy white tulle and charmeuse. Her hair had been pulled back in twists, with a flowing wispy veil descending to the floor. She grinned more broadly than she usually did as Klaus nodded and said warmly,

"I agree."

 _This is the most wondrous thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life,_ Klaus thought, and Queenie's eye's prickled as she perceived his German thoughts in English in her mind. She'd used the Babel Charm to be certain, for Vinda's sake, that this was the right thing, but she didn't want to invade, either. Vinda's mind was swirling with happiness as Grindelwald asked,

"Do you, Vinda Rosier, agree to be joined forever in marriage to this wizard?"

"I agree," she said instantly. Queenie glanced around the elegant parlour, black and green, in which they were conducting this private handfasting. Only Queenie and Grindelwald were witnesses to it, but that didn't make it any less significant.

"Queenie, illuminate your wand to wish good tidings upon this couple," said Grindelwald, and Queenie held her wand aloft toward Vinda and Klaus and said in a voice cracking with emotion,

" _Lumos._ "

She stood there for a long moment, Vinda smiling gratefully at her, until Grindelwald nodded and Queenie shut out the light of her wand.

"Klaus Reiner," Grindelwald said smoothly, "Do you promise to protect this witch, to love and cherish her in every way, through good health and sickness, through poverty and good fortune, through difficulty and ease? Do you promise to adore her more each day than the last?"

"I do." Klaus nodded eagerly, staring into Vinda's eyes as he spoke the words. Grindelwald smirked a little at the vision of true love before him, and he asked rather cheekily,

"Vinda Rosier, do you promise to honor this wizard, to love and cherish him in every way, through good health and sickness, through poverty and good fortune, through difficulty and ease? Do you promise to adore him more each day than the last?"

"Of course I do." Vinda shut her eyes, looking like she was holding back tears. Grindelwald reached into the breast pocket of his tuxedo robe and pulled out a black ribbon, identical to the one Vinda herself had used to bind Grindelwald and Queenie on their wedding day in the Colosseum. How very different an experience _that_ had been, Queenie thought - ten thousand people watching them compared with a quiet room. Grindelwald began to wrap the black ribbon round Klaus' and Vinda's clasped hands, and he said,

"Aim your wands at your joined hands. As the ribbon wraps, incant the spell _Ligo Necto_ three times."

They did as he commanded, and once they'd finished, Grindelwald cast the same spell upon them three times over himself. Then he declared,

"What has been bound together can never be fully unraveled. Let your magic unite in love and harmony; let your marriage be one of pure joy. Under my own authority - that of Gellert Grindelwald - I bind Klaus Reiner and Vinda Rosier Reiner in marriage. Let them be bound now and forever. _Ligo Necto. Ligo Necto. Ligo Necto_."

He unfurled the ribbon from their hands and carefully handed it over to Klaus, who tucked it away into his own tuxedo jacket gratefully. Grindelwald smirked widely at Vinda and Klaus and ordered them,

"Now kiss, the two of you; don't make me ask twice."

Vinda laughed a little and cupped Klaus' jaws in her hands. He leaned down to press his lips firmly against hers, and Queenie gleefully clapped her hands whilst holding Vinda's bouquet of white lilies. After Vinda and Klaus had kissed, Vinda turned to Queenie, who passed over the flowers. Vinda took a step to Queenie and bent to kiss Queenie's cheek.

" _Merci_ , my dear friend," she said warmly. "For everything. I am more grateful than I could ever say."

Queenie's eyes seared like fire, and she brushed her knuckle over Vinda's cheekbone as she flashed her a half smile and told her,

"You look like a dream, honey. Now go have dinner upstairs with your husband and live happily ever after."

* * *

"Queenie, I'd like you to meet Healer Pichler. He's going to be staying at Nurmengard for the duration of your pregnancy and will be overseeing the birth and the first few weeks of recovery."

Grindelwald stood in his office with the forty-something Jakob Pichler, who was allegedly the best wizarding Healer in Vienna. Pichler, an ardent supporter of Grindelwald's, had very enthusiastically agreed to come to Nurmengard and be Queenie's Healer for her delivery. He'd personally delivered some of the most elite wizarding babies in Europe, it was said.

"Madam Grindelwald," said Pichler, who was just a bit handsome for Grindelwald's taste, bowing to Queenie, "It will be an honour and a privilege to see to the care of the wife and child of Gellert Grindelwald. I can assure you that you will receive nothing but the best from me."

"Oh. Thanks so much." Queenie scratched at her hair a little and admitted, "I'm awfully nervous about… you know, giving birth. I'm afraid it's gonna hurt real bad. They say it can hurt worse than anything else in the whole world. I read that in a No-Maj women's magazine. That it's the worst pain there is."

She was babbling out of fear and anxiety, Grindelwald knew, but Pichler held his hand up to calm her, and he said,

"No-Maj women must endure terrible pain during their deliveries. It is true. But that is because their healing technologies are so horrifically inferior to ours. You see, Madam Grindelwald, during your delivery, I can offer you the ability to safely sleep through the early contractions and labour, so that you might rest up and preserve your strength. During the pushing phase, you will feel no pain at all as we will use Essence of Greenbelly Root to numb you from the waist down. Any tearing or other injuries are very easily fixed with magical medicine, whereas for the non-magical, these are traumatic wounds. So, you see, Madam Grindelwald, you have nothing to fear, thanks to magic. All will be well."

Queenie grinned at him and nodded, obviously reassured. "All will be well," she repeated gratefully.

* * *

All was not well.

Gellert Grindelwald stood in his bedroom as Healer Pichler sliced open his wife on the bed.

Queenie had pushed for six hours, but the baby had not come. Queenie had lost consciousness due to exhaustion, and Pichler had said that he feared the baby was already dead. He needed to perform something called an _emergency section_ , whatever that was, and he began using his wand with careful _Diffindo_ incantations to slice open the bottom of Queenie's abdomen. Now he was reaching with Scoured hands into her body, moving her organs around and pulling something out.

A baby.

A screaming baby.

He wasted no time in cutting the umbilical cord with another Severing Charm and quickly stitching up Queenie's wound, crying out for Dittany, which his assistant Mediwitch handed him. The Mediwitch them took the baby and Scoured it, Siphoned away all the blood and mess, whilst Queenie lay in a bloody pool of gore on the bed. Healer Pichler began to clean her up and then pulled her medical gown down around her, murmuring,

" _Rennervate._ "

The baby was crying. Grindelwald could hear that much. The baby was mewling somewhere on the far side of the room as the Mediwitch got it wrapped up in a blanket.

"Where is my child?" bellowed Grindelwald. "Is my wife all right?"

He ran his shaking fingers through his hair and hurried over to Queenie, who was very slowly trying to sit up. He urged her back down and whispered,

"No, dear creature; you've had surgery. You must lie down. The baby is alive. You are alive. All is well."

He couldn't believe those words had come out of his mouth, but they were true. If the two of them were living, then he didn't need to take Pichler out onto the mountain and execute him. Still, he found himself crouching beside Queenie's bed and glaring up at Pichler as he demanded,

"How did this happen?"

"The babe got stuck inside her pelvis, I think, _Mein Herr_ ," said Pichler. "The child is of a good size, and she is very small. It happens sometimes. Luckily, the operation was a great success. We'll dose her with Invigoration Draught now."

"I want to see the baby!" Queenie cried. "I want to see Leopold!"

"Leopold?" Pichler frowned in confusion. He glanced to where the Mediwitch was cradling a bundle. "It is… the child is a girl."

Grindelwald's blood ran cold. Hadn't they seen a prediction of a little boy called Leopold? But then, that had been before Dumbledore had Cursed Queenie. Perhaps the future had been altered. A little girl. What a surprise, he thought, and not altogether an unpleasant one, somehow.

"A girl." Queenie began to sob with joy as they handed her the bundled child. She showed the child's face to Grindelwald, and he took in the infant's delicate features, her little shock of icy blond hair, her thick pout, her unusually long nose for a baby. She was beautiful. She was the most beautiful thing in the entire world. Suddenly everything felt very vivid. Everything felt… clear. He felt a tear boil over his eye and stream down his cheek, and he whispered,

"Clara."

Queenie was taking down the right side of her medical gown and bringing the child to her breast as though it were the most natural thing in all the world for her to do. She turned her face toward Grindelwald, still crying hard, and she nodded.

"Clara."

Grindelwald climbed up into the bed, which had mercifully been cleaned of the detritus of surgery, and he curled himself against his wife and daughter. He flicked his eyes toward the Healer and the Mediwitch, and he said,

"Go, Pichler. I'll call you when you're needed."

As Pichler nodded and made his way from the rooms with the Mediwitch, Grindelwald kissed Queenie's cheek and watched Clara eat, and he realised something rather frightening.

His entire world was in this room.

And for some bizarre reason, he was perfectly fine moving forward with that reality. He was perfectly fine charging his movement ever onward with the knowledge that these two beating hearts beside him were _everything_ , and all else was just decoration. He was perfectly fine trying to fight Dumbledore knowing that that wasn't the end game anymore - raising Clara was. And he was perfectly fine being madly in love with the beautiful woman in his arms, knowing that she was a strength and not a weakness.

He was fine with all of it. He adored it all, the knowledge that these two were his world, his Universe, his _everything._ And he would move forward with them, _for_ them.

For the Greater Good.

THE END

 **Author's Note: I'm not crying; you're crying! I know, I know. This ending might feel a little rushed. I think that no matter how I end this story, it's going to feel rushed because there are subplots that could just keep on going in perpetuity. I had to end this story at some point. Haha. I may write a series of one-shots detailing Clara's childhood, if people are up for reading those. Heads up - my next story is probably going to be a** _ **Pirates of the Caribbean**_ **fic (Jack/Elizabeth; can you tell I'm on a Johnny Depp kick?) so keep a weather eye out if interested.**

 **I just want to say a hundred thousand thank yous to everyone who has read this story all the way through, and especially those who have commented on it. I am eternally grateful for your readership and feedback on this little tale of mine. Now, the rest of you - please write for this ship. I adore this ship, and we need more stories for it. :) Thank you again so very much. Love to all.**


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